


Like Gravity, Like Love

by raug_moss



Series: New Beginnings [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Femslash, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-21
Updated: 2014-09-21
Packaged: 2018-02-17 06:19:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 23,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2299550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raug_moss/pseuds/raug_moss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A yellow stolen VW bug is everything Emma can call her own when she gets out of prison. That, and an unborn child whom she has absolutely nothing to offer. After an early release she comes across the enigmatic mayor of Storybrooke while heedlessly driving through the sleepy little town in Maine. She couldn't have possibly anticipated that meeting Regina Mills would change her entire life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Like Gravity

**Author's Note:**

> this story was written for the second round of the SwanQueenBigBang and I have to thank the people behind the scenes for organizing this, the artists for creating amazing pieces of art and the betas for finding all those mistakes that tend to slip through the cracks.

She was just sitting there in her car, hands tightly wrapped around the steering wheel in a white-knuckled grip. A sheen of sweat was starting to cover her forehead and chest as her breath came in shallow, quick gasps. 

She couldn’t do this. There was no way she could do this. She wasn’t ready, probably never would be, and yet there was no way to stop it. 

Here she was, in some hillbilly town in the middle of freaking nowhere, sitting in her car with spasmic pains wrecking her entire body. She looked up and gazed at the diner across the street. A sign in front of it read Granny’s.

Emma squeezed her eyes shut and let her forehead bump against the steering wheel. She was such an idiot. 

Before she knew what she was doing she had raised her head again and began bumping it against the unforgiving thick leather of the steering wheel, the pain against her forehead distracting her from the pain in her lower back. She almost didn’t hear the incessant knocking over her brain getting a rollercoaster ride inside her skull, but she eventually realized that someone was tapping their fist against the passenger side window of her car.

Now she felt even more ridiculous. The people in the diner probably thought she was crazy, a mental case, and they had sent someone to arrest her. Emma’s hands tightened around the steering wheel. Not again. Never again.

She slowly raised her head, trying to move her hand toward the keys dangling from the ignition as unsuspiciously as she could. But instead of being confronted with some cop shining their flashlight into her car in the middle of the day, she stared into the face of a woman. Perfect hair, perfect make-up, divine lips and the deepest brown eyes she had ever seen. 

The woman knocked against the side of her window again, her hand protected by a black leather glove. She was pointing at something behind her car and when Emma turned her upper body to look out of the rear window she saw that she was blocking a sleek black Mercedes. Her eyes widened and she turned back to the face still hovering outside of her window. She nodded quickly and started her car to drive forward, giving the black Mercedes space to pull away from the curb. 

Another wave of intense pain hit her as she accelerated. Her foot unintentionally pushed down on the gas pedal, causing her entire car to jerk forward before the engine stuttered and died. 

“Shit.”

She tried to start her car again, but it only coughed pitifully and refused to move a single inch. After her third attempt she finally gave up and slammed her hands against the steering wheel before leaning back into the seat. She groaned in agony as her body once again demanded her entire attention. It was getting worse. 

She clamped her eyes shut and forced herself to take deep steadying breaths. It took several seconds for the pain to subside. Again someone knocked on her window, this time on her side of the car. It was the same woman as before, but she looked decidedly more pissed. She motioned for Emma to roll down her window, but it was stuck. So instead Emma jerked her door open with a determined push, forcing the woman to take several quick steps backward in order to not get hit.

“What do you think you’re doing?” The woman’s voice washed over Emma like velvet, rich and deep, causing a shiver to run down her spine.

“I…uh…”

Upon looking around herself, Emma realized that she had successfully positioned her car next to and in front of a small red fire hydrant, halfway on top of the pristine green lawn that was now sporting two angry brown tire tracks.

“This is private property you are vandalizing.”

Emma turned back to the woman who glared at her accusingly as if a little bit of ruined grass could possibly be that big of a deal. But instead of coming up with a snarky retort, Emma gasped and leaned forward, cradling her belly with both hands. Her large thick coat pushed open at the movement, revealing her sizeable pregnant stomach for all the world to see. She was wearing a huge ugly flower-print dress to accommodate her ever-growing body. 

The woman took a small step backward, her mouth opening and closing without uttering a single sound. Emma was once again taking deep breaths with the occasional groan escaping. 

“You’re pregnant.”

“What gave me away?” Emma gasped.

“How dare… are you…are you going into labor?”

The woman’s voice had taken on a decidedly panicked edge and Emma couldn’t help but chuckle dryly. Yes she was going into labor and telling by the time the contractions were now coming she wasn’t far from delivering the baby. 

“Fuck,” she cursed, almost doubling over when an intense pain moved through her body like a lightning bolt, making her vision blurry.

Unexpectedly, two hands came to rest on her shoulders, holding her upright. Emma raised her head, looking into brown eyes with her own teary ones. Damn, that woman really was breathtakingly beautiful. Now that there was no dingy glass separating them she could gaze at perfectly smooth skin, shapely eyebrows and a small almost unnoticeable scar above her upper lip.

“You need to go to a hospital.”

‘No shit’, Emma wanted to say, but her throat was dry and the insides of her mouth felt kind of weird. She wasn’t sure if she had bitten into her lip during the last contraction, but it tasted like blood. She had no idea where the next hospital was and how she was supposed to get there in her condition. Her legs were starting to feel wobbly and she became light-headed, a side effect of the pain coming and going. It wasn’t after she’d taken more deep breaths that she realized she was heavily leaning on the other woman while two hands still pressed against her shoulders to stop her from falling forward.

“Alright, get in the car.”

Emma nodded numbly. Of course she couldn’t stay like this, although it felt kind of nice to have someone that close for a change. She didn’t want to crave the support and closeness of another person, but she couldn’t help feel slightly better with the brunette’s hands steadying her. She took a small step toward her Bug but was immediately pulled back against a surprisingly strong body.

“I meant my car.”

Emma looked up and found the woman gazing back at her. With a small jerk of her chin she indicated the black Mercedes Emma’s Bug had blocked. 

“But what about…?”

“I’ll have someone take care of it,” the woman said, scoffing at the small yellow car as if it was one of the ugliest things she had ever seen.

Emma indignantly raised her head, glaring at the brunette for insulting her beloved vehicle. She wasn’t capable of more than that, but she hoped she’d made her point. With the woman still cradling Emma against her body, they made their over to the Mercedes and Emma slid into the passenger seat after the door was opened for her. Just as her behind hit the plush leather seats she felt something warm sticky and wet gush down her inner thighs, dripping onto her black boots.

“Oh shit.”

“What?” the brunette asked as she got in behind the steering wheel.

“My water broke.”

Emma chanced a glance over and saw how the brunette’s jaw tightened. There was a vein bulging on her forehead, pulsing in rhythm with her clenching teeth. Without another word she started the car and they pulled away from the curb, allowing Emma one last look at her precious Bug still parked askew half on top of the lawn.

#-#-#

Emma couldn’t keep the scream in. It was just too much. Pain, dizziness and again pain. She could barely walk and was half dragged half carried into the entrance of the hospital. The brunette was still holding onto her tightly despite the fluids she kept losing. Emma felt almost bad for the expensive looking pantsuit. It looked amazing on the other woman and had probably cost more than Emma had ever owned, but right in that moment she just couldn’t bring herself to really care. Ruined lawn, leather seat and wardrobe had to wait until later.

Two nurses immediately rushed toward them as Emma stumbled into the hospital, barely able to hold herself upright.

“What’s going on?” one of them asked.

“Madame Mayor?”

Emma’s head snapped up and she looked at the brunette who glared both nurses down.

“I think it is obvious what is going. She is having a baby. Get Whale. Now.”

“Yes… yes Madame Mayor.”

Emma couldn’t believe what she had just heard. The brunette was the mayor? Of all people she could come across in this town, it was the freaking mayor’s car in which her water broke. Of course, that was just Emma’s kind of luck. 

Another nurse brought a wheelchair and gestured for Emma to sit down. Her legs were slowly but surely ceasing to obey her and she couldn’t stand up any longer. But the idea of letting go of the brunette was unsettling. Emma felt protected by the way the other woman glared at everyone who dared to come near them. So instead of letting go immediately, Emma leaned in and buried her face in the crook of the brunette’s neck, deeply inhaling her scent, a cross between apples and unique sweet smell that probably was the mayor’s very own. 

Emma didn’t care that she was probably making a fool out of herself and she also ignored all the people staring at them because she just needed to memorize that moment for later so she could imagine what it felt like to be held, supported, especially when she was going to deliver a baby in the next hour or so. She eventually drew back and attempted to smile at the brunette.

“Thank you. I really mean it.”

The mayor simply nodded, not returning the smile, and helped Emma sit in the wheelchair. She felt yet another contraction coming and instinctively reached out and wrapped her hand around the brunette’s lower arm, squeezing tightly. 

A doctor who was blending in with the general whiteness of the hospital approached her. He had an arrogant air about him that set him apart from the rest of the staff. Emma immediately disliked him.

“I’m Doctor Whale and I’ll be taking care of you.”

“Y-you?”

“Yes, shall we?”

Emma turned to gaze up at the brunette who was still sporting a stony expression and she let go of the brunette’s forearm. “Sorry.”

Whale walked around Emma’s wheelchair and began pushing her forward, further into the hospital. He nodded toward the brunette. “Madame Mayor.”

“Wait.”

Whale stopped immediately and raised his eyebrows at the other woman. Emma twisted around in the chair to look at the mayor, hoping against hope that maybe she wouldn’t have to do this all on her own. The truth was that she was scared to death. There was going to be pain, and blood, and a baby. And then what? The only thing she possessed was her Bug and whatever few clothes she’d had on her when they’d arrested her. She could hardly take care of herself after being released, let alone of a baby. 

Emma was starting to panic, her palms became sweaty and she felt nauseous. All blood was draining from her face and the typical hospital noises around her sounded far away. She focused on the brunette, making her the sole center of her attention, trying to soak some of that calm exterior into herself simply by looking. Brown eyes gazed down at her and Emma sucked in a quick breath.

“Is there anyone you would like me to call?” she asked.

Emma’s face immediately fell. Of course, what else could she have wanted? Surely not staying in a labor room with a woman she barely knew and who had ruined her town’s lawn. A small sad smile tugged at the corners of Emma’s mouth as she shook her head. There really was no one she could call. Not a single person.

“We’ll take care of her,” Whale said, but somehow Emma didn’t feel reassured at all.

He turned yet again and pushed Emma through the entrance hall and toward two double doors with a round window in each. She held her stomach with both hands, cradling it carefully as her back contracted painfully. Tears sprang to her eyes as the most intense pain yet caused her to whimper. 

“Wait.”

Whale stopped yet again with a sigh. The mayor walked toward Emma, heels quickly clicking on the marble floor. Every single one of her steps spoke of confidence and authority. 

Emma saw Whale roll his eyes as he looked over his shoulder at the approaching woman. “Madame Mayor we really should get going.”

“I know,” she snapped, sending one of her glares his way. 

She took a small breath and walked around to stand in front of Emma who looked up at her with slightly unfocused eyes, her face still a grimace of pain.

“I just…I mean if you needed someone…I could stay, if you wanted.”

Something Emma couldn’t quite identify flickered through those rich brown eyes, but before the brunette could change her mind again Emma took her hand and held it tightly.

“Yes.”

Her fingers were gently squeezed in return and Emma smiled crookedly. This was probably one of the luckiest moments of her life.


	2. Like Love

Not how she had imagined this would go.

Well she had known that it would be painful, and unpleasant, but this was beyond anything any human should ever be forced to endure. Emma had no idea where the pain began and she ended. Her body felt like it was torn in half and her head felt thick but still as if it was floating somewhere above. 

Maybe she shouldn’t have taken any of that pain medication. The only thing still anchoring her to the moment was Regina’s hand. 

She loved the name, Regina, it fit the brunette so perfectly. They had only briefly introduced themselves before Emma had been hauled into the labor room and undressed by a pair of nurses. 

Thankfully Regina had decided to wait outside until Emma was tucked into a blue hospital gown with a long slit at the back. But then it probably wouldn’t have mattered if Regina had seen her naked since she was standing right beside her while Emma was pressing a head the size of a melon out of her vagina. 

She had a death grip on Regina’s hand, but when she gazed up into the brunette’s stoic face she saw absolutely nothing that indicated she was in pain. Instead brown eyes locked onto hers, silently encouraging her.

“Alright Emma, one more push, I can see the crown,” Dr. Rivalle said. 

Fortunately the gentle red-head had been assigned to deliver the baby instead of Whale. With him staring at her most private parts this would’ve been even more awful. 

“That’s what you said two contractions ago,” Emma wheezed, pinning the doctor with a glare. 

The red-head only smiled and shrugged her shoulders, blowing a wayward strand of crimson hair out of her face. “This time will be the last, promise.”

“You can do it,” Regina said quietly, leaning down toward Emma.

She raised her free hand and brushed a few sweaty strands of hair out of Emma’s face. The smile on Regina’s face was all the encouragement she needed. She clenched her jaw and closed her eyes, just in case they decided to pop out because of the pressure that was building in her head, and pushed. She released a scream and her voice was suddenly joined with another one. Regina had let out a yelp when something in the hand Emma was still holding onto cracked. She immediately treid to let go but Regina’s other hand came to rest upon their joined ones.

“It’s okay.”

All the pressure left Emma in one swoop and she became light-headed with the next deep breath she took. Regina smiled down at her and she felt her own dry lips stretching in response. A tiny cry flittered through the room and Regina’s eyes immediately snapped up. Emma’s gaze lingered a moment longer until she turned her head and saw a nurse holding a small bloody and slightly pale human in her arms. Emma’s heart melted when a tiny hand reached into the air, precious little fingers curling toward the light. A relieved laugh escaped Emma. She felt happier than ever before in her life. Had she really given birth to this little human being?

Regina squeezed Emma’s hand, her eyes glued to the newborn. Emma loved the pressure of those soft fingers entwined with hers. They grounded her, gave her something to hold onto in this entirely exhausting and amazing situation. She couldn’t imagine going through this without Regina’s quiet, strong presence beside her. 

“It’s a boy, congratulations Miss Swan.”

Emma closed her eyes. She had finally done something right. A perfect little person, what more could she ask for? 

“Miss Swan?”

Emma’s thoughts were kind of slow, and even though she tried to answer she couldn’t get a single word out of her mouth. Her limbs were heavy and her head rolled to the side. She could no longer hold on to Regina’s hand and wanted to apologize for letting go but she wasn’t even strong enough for that. What was going on?

“She is losing blood, we need to get her into surgery,” someone said. 

Were they talking about her? Hadn’t she just brought a little boy into the world? She should at least be allowed to see him properly and hold him. But instead there was a flurry of movement around her. Voices, one deep rich tone standing out in particular. Regina. 

Lights were flashing behind her closed eyes like white fireworks going off and then darkness. All consuming black nothingness. 

‘Well shit’, was the last thought Emma had.

#-#-#

Regina looked into the mirror in her foyer and fussed with her hair until it fell just the right way. She reapplied her lipstick and turned her head from one side to the other. Perfect. It needed to be, she wanted to look her best for this. She turned to the large bundle sitting next to her feet in a basket and carefully lifted it, smiling gently.

“Time to go.”

She carried everything to her car, a black van with doors that slid open without her having to touch the vehicle at all. The small remote in her hand was truly helpful and she almost regretted the way she had snapped at the car dealer when she’d bought the van. Almost. She positioned the bundle in its special seat in the back and buckled it up before walking around to the other side and getting into the driver’s seat. She started the car and twisted her upper body, one hand resting on the seat beside her. 

At first she had needed time to get used to the large van, but now she barely remembered what it was like to drive in a smaller car. She backed out of her driveway and effortlessly merged with the minimal traffic in Storybrooke. 

The ride was quiet and Regina even turned on the radio to some easy-going quiet song. She smiled to herself as she pulled into the parking lot and gazed up at the large white building. She had come to enjoy her visits here, no longer detesting every single minute she had to spend within these walls. 

Regina gathered her things and slung her purse over her shoulder before going around the car to retrieve the bundle. She walked across the parking lot with purposeful strides and the door of the entrance slid open noiselessly. 

“Hello Madame Mayor,” someone greeted her as she walked inside. 

She nodded in the general direction of the voice and headed straight for the elevators. Despite pushing the button more often than was necessary the thing took its time and she was impatiently tapping her foot by the time it finally reached the ground floor. The doors opened with a quiet bing and Regina was greeted by Whale who raised his eyebrows at her. 

“Hello Madame Mayor. I didn’t expect you back until next week.”

“Yes, well, today is a special day,” she answered curtly, stepping into elevator as Whale stepped out.

“Is that so? Oh right, I almost forgot. Has it really been this long?”

“It has.”

The doors closed again, leaving Regina with the image of Whale who stared down at his shoes in thought. She breathed a quiet sigh, glad to have a moment to prepare. She fluffed out her hair again and turned to look into the mirror that lined one wall of the elevator. She wanted to look her best for this special occasion. The little red numbers on the display crawled upward and Regina gently rocked the bundle in her arms back and forth when a small gurgle emerged from within. 

The elevator arrived and she stepped out into the sterile-looking white corridor with confidence. She knew the way, had memorized it many times over, and soon stood in front of a nondescript brown door, indistinguishable from any of the others that lined the corridor. She hesitated a moment, looking down. 

“Ready to see mommy?”

She didn’t knock and simply turned the doorknob to step inside. Sunlight was streaming in through a window to her right, basking the room - one of the biggest in the hospital - in a bright haze. The far wall was lined with flowers, various kinds of every imaginable color. The air smelled fresh and slightly sweet. Regina closed the door by kicking it with her heel, not even thinking about etiquette. She turned to her left and moved over to the bed that took up most of the space in the room. The sheets were freshly changed and gleamed in a pristine white. Several machines, some of them making noises, some of them blinking stood on either side. 

Regina placed the bundle on a chair and reached inside to gently cradle the baby into her arms. He was starting to get too big for her to carry like she used to and she would have to buy a stroller soon, but he was small for his age so she had opted to wait a little bit longer. Brown eyes blinked sleepily at her and she smoothed some soft thin brown hair out of the baby’s face. Regina gazed over at the sleeping woman on the bed, her blonde hair spilled around her on the pillow. Her chest was rising and falling in a rhythmic pattern without the help of machines. 

“Look who I brought to celebrate his first birthday with you,” Regina said gently. 

She propped the little boy against her hip as he gurgled happily and reached into her purse to retrieve a small plastic box. Inside was a cupcake with a single candle sticking out of the icing. She knew that lighters and candles were not allowed in the hospital but this one time she was sure they could make an exception. She produced a lighter from her purse and lit the candle before carrying the cupcake over to the nightstand next to the bed. 

“How about a wish?” she asked.

“Ma-mee,” the little boy answered. 

Regina nodded and hugged him tightly, pressing a kiss to his temple.

“That sounds like a wonderful wish to me. Close your eyes and we make it together, alright?”

Regina leaned toward the cupcake, making sure the little boy was close enough to the flame without being able to touch it if he reached out. He puffed out his cheeks but couldn’t even bring the flame to flicker. Regina smiled and closed her eyes. She silently made her wish, hoping against hope that it would be granted, and blew out the candle.   
The next thing she heard was a choking sound coming from the bed. She quickly straightened and took a step to stand beside it.

“Emma?”


	3. You Get Up

Emma had dressed in a pair of jeans and a gray sweater that was too large for her. She liked the way the soft material hugged her without feeling restraining in any way.   
Emma slowly made her way down the stairs that were kind of there and yet not and entered the large kitchen which was sort of an indistinct shape with a few details clear and some just fuzzy shapes.

She smiled at the sight that greeted her. Regina had little a little boy cradled in her arms while she watched the coffee machine spilling the brown liquid into its see-through belly. Henry’s eyes were closed and Emma could see his peaceful little face resting in the crook of Regina’s neck with his cheek squished against her shoulder. Somehow his face was kind of blurry, his features not yet distinct enough for Emma to make them out, but she had a feeling that she would eventually be able to see everything. It was just a matter of time.

Regina smiled at her when she stepped further into the kitchen and indicated with a tilt of her head that Emma should take Henry so she had her hands free. Emma moved over to them and carefully lifted him away from the brunette, trying not to wake the slumbering boy. He exhaled loudly when Emma cradled him against her chest, but didn’t open his eyes. 

“He said he was hungry but fell back asleep as soon as I got downstairs,” Regina said with a smirk.

“Can’t blame him, I’d rather be in bed too.”

Emma smirked and Regina’s face softened for a moment. Her brown eyes seemed distant for a moment and she kept her gaze trained on Emma for several heartbeats as if she couldn’t quite be sure that she was really there. The coffee machine made a quiet sound, announcing that it was done and Henry noisily smacked his lips before lifting his head from Emma’s shoulder and looking at her with sleepy eyes that had no color at all.

“Mommy?”

“You hungry?”

He nodded and rubbed his eye with a little fist. It was the cutest thing and Emma pressed a quick kiss to his cheek, his head gently bobbing to the side with the impact. Henry giggled happily and twisted in Emma’s arms to look at Regina who had already started pouring coffee into her porcelain mug and Emma’s portable one. Her eyes flickered over to the clock on the wall and she held her arms out for Henry who stretched his fingers in Regina’s direction.

“You have to get going.”

Emma glanced at the clock as well and groaned. She had to go in less than five minutes but no desire at all to leave.

“How about I call in sick today?”

Regina raised an eyebrow at her, taking Henry into her arms again and handing Emma her portable coffee pot with her free hand.

“Nice try, but I believe there are things you cannot keep delaying.”

Emma rolled her eyes and plopped the latch to her coffee mug open to take a sip of the hot brown liquid. She still didn’t like the taste but it helped her get going in the morning, so she drank it every once in a while. Still couldn’t beat hot chocolate though.

“Can’t I just stay?”

“I wish you could dear, but no. You know I want nothing more than to have you here. But they are waiting for you.”

Emma’s brow furrowed as she glanced at the clock again.

“Who do you mean?”

“Oh don’t play coy with me Miss Swan, you know who I am talking about.”

Regina smiled. “Why don’t you say goodbye to Henry?”

Emma stepped closer to the little boy still in Regina’s arms and kissed his forehead. He used the proximity to pat his little hand against Emma’s cheek before his attention was caught by a bird flying past the window. Or the white fog that constituted as window.

“Remember this, it’s important, hear me? I’ll see you soon,” Regina said, nudging Emma to get going.

“What are you talking about?” she called over her shoulder as she rushed toward the front door. 

There was a certain urgency now, making her leave the house with hurried steps. Regina was right, she had somewhere important to be and if she could finally remember where that was she would be fine. She rushed outside to her Bug and just as she was about to open the door everything started to shake around her. It was almost like an earthquake without sound. 

Almost as if the whole thing was happening inside of her head instead of around her. She looked back at the house with panicked eyes. The house was just a big indistinct shape without even a front door. Still, she had to get to Regina and Henry to make sure they were alright. There was another giant shudder running through her and her vision started to become blurry. Why was the boy called Henry?

“Emma?”

The voice echoed around her and it sounded hauntingly familiar. Weird. Someone had told her that they had named him Henry but she wasn’t sure. Everything was just so blurry, fading from light to dark with splashes of yellow in between. Was that her Bug? Why couldn’t she just get in and drive away?

“Emma can you hear me?”

‘Of course I can,’ she wanted to say, but there was no one around to talk to. 

The house vanished and left a gaping hole of absolute nothingness. Emma stumbled back, another vibration shaking her to the very core. She suddenly felt so very lonely, empty. Where was Regina? She wanted that feeling back, the home they had made for themselves, the little family. She wanted happiness. 

There was a blindingly bright light when she was thrust forward. She fell flat on her face and groaned quietly at the pain the light caused. Her mouth felt like she had swallowed a handful of sand and her limbs were a little too heavy to move. She made a hundred and eighty degree flip and was suddenly on her back. Someone was forcefully prying her eyes open and shining a light into them. 

“What’s happening with her?”

“I think she is waking up.”


	4. After You Fall

Regina cradled Henry against her chest, his cheek pressed to her collarbone while he breathed deeply in sleep. She smiled down at him and tenderly brushed her fingers through his thin hair.

Kathryn came breezing through the automatic doors of the hospital’s main entrance, a smile emerging on her face when she spotted Regina. “Is it true?”

“Yes. They’re doing some tests right now. Could you keep him for today? It’s still his birthday,” Regina said.

“Of course. We’ll make it a beautiful first birthday, little Henry can have an entire piece of cake to himself.”

Kathryn smiled broadly and took the sleeping boy from Regina. She adored Henry almost as much as Regina did, and with her having to work most days it was Kathryn who had taken to babysitting him. 

Regina handed Kathryn her bag and everything else she had brought with her for a quiet day at the hospital. She made sure Kathryn had a safe grip on Henry before she took a step back and pulled on the lapels of her blue blazer with both hands. 

“Will you be alright?” Kathryn asked, eyeing Regina with concern.

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well, this could mean a lot of change, for all of you.”

Regina tightened her jaw, her eyes briefly flickering to Henry. Yes this meant a lot of changes, and they could most certainly be unpleasant ones, but she had waited for this moment, asked for it even, that she could hardly find it in her to think negatively now. She could handle this, she was the mayor. She had been through worse. 

“I’ll be fine.” She nodded to herself, not only reassuring Kathryn that it was indeed the truth. 

“If you need me, just call, alright?”

Regina nodded again and smiled thinly. She reached out and brushed her hand across Henry’s cheek. It had taken about a week until the little boy had wrapped her completely around his tiny finger. There was no way she could’ve not grown to love him with the fierceness and gentleness of a mother.

She watched Kathryn turn and together with a still slumbering Henry, she left the hospital. It was a Sunday, almost noon, and the entrance hall was nearly empty. At least no one saw her standing there raking a hand through her hair while taking a deep shuddering breath. She had no idea what to do or to think. As many times as she had gone through this exact scenario in her head, it was nothing compared to reality. Not a single moment in the past twelve months had prepared her for this.

Emma had woken up. She had looked at her with those grayish-green eyes she remembered so well and the world had tilted on its axis for a split second.

Regina inhaled through her nose and lifted her chin, slipping the mask of mayor back into place. 

She turned on her heel and marched back to the elevator. Only inside these four small walls did she falter for a moment, but when the doors slid open with a quiet ping she was ready to take care of this with the same professionalism she handled everything else. 

Whale was heading her way as she stalked down the corridor and she stopped him with a single look. “So?”

He cleared his throat and glanced down at the chart he was holding. “Madame Mayor, as you know only immediate family -”

“Save it, you know I can obtain these records as soon as I want, so why not save us the hassle and just get on with it?”

Whale sighed and lowered the chart to slap it against his thigh. “Fine. So, Miss Swan has obtained full consciousness and despite the fact that her brain had been deprived of oxygen for a frighteningly amount of time it seems as if no permanent damage has been done. In fact there are cases where the brain has been able to return to normal functioning, redirecting cognitive processes from one area to another if only given enough time. You might want to call it a miracle, if you believe in such things. But what surprises me most is that apart from some apparent symptoms of being in a coma for such a long period of time she seems almost unchanged. Normally muscle atrophy is an inevitable side effect, but she seems almost as healthy as she was twelve months ago. Which is impossible if you ask me, and yet it seems as if she has been somehow…preserved.”

At some point Regina had stopped listening to Whale. As soon as he had said that there was no permanent damage relief had flooded her so forcefully that she had become slightly lightheaded. Her fingertips tingled with an odd feeling and she realized that she had been staring at something just above Whale’s shoulder.

“Madame Mayor?” he asked, clearly displeased about being ignored.

“I’m going to see her now.”

“I wouldn’t be able to stop you anyway.”

She simply brushed past Whale without looking at him or offering a word of parting. She wanted, no, needed to see Emma. Speak with her, explain. 

The door to Emma’s room still looked the same. The number three was still slightly askew and as much as she had wanted to straighten it every day, she hadn’t touched it a single time. Her hand wrapped around the doorknob in a white-knuckled grip. She was afraid of what she was going to find on the other side. But because uncertainty was even worse than facing the situation, she turned the doorknob and pushed. 

Her heels sounded unnaturally loud in the still room as she entered and her eyes immediately strayed to the bed and its single occupant. Even though she had known that Emma would be awake, the sight still startled her. Emma was sitting up in bed, propped against a couple of pillows, a light blue blanket draped across her legs. Her blonde hair was swept behind her ears and she was watching the flowers on the other side of the room before turning to look at Regina. There was a tiny smile on her lips.

“Did you put these here?”

Regina found herself nodding numbly, standing rooted to the spot, one hand still clutching the doorknob of the open door. 

#-#-#

She entered the hospital room with a confident stride, but stopped once the door closed behind her. She was struck by how barren and impersonal the room seemed. There was just something about the white walls and how they made everything look sterile and slightly unwelcoming. Not that she was fond of bright colors or unnecessary décor, but this room was just plain depressing. She needed to do something about that, Regina decided. 

She nodded to herself and made a mental note before moving over to the bed. A small smile emerged on her face as she gazed at the woman lying there as if she was simply sleeping and could wake up at any moment. Regina pulled one of the chairs up next to the bed and sat down. She plucked a piece of nonexistent lint off the sleeve of her blouse and made a quiet sound in the back of her throat. Somehow it was odd to talk to Emma like this, but one of the nurses had told her that people who had woken up from such a coma had said that they were able to hear things or sense if someone was with them, taking care of them. So Regina decided that the least she could do was to try and make Emma feel like she was not alone. 

Still, what she had to say wasn’t easy, but she felt like she had to share this with Emma whether she could hear her or not. 

“So, after some serious consideration, and you should know that I don’t make important decisions lightly, I have chosen to name him Henry.”

Regina glanced up, halfway expecting Emma to just open her eyes and start complaining about how she could possibly think she had any right to name her son. But nothing happened. Not even a tiny flicker of anything, and Regina couldn’t quite decide if she was glad or not.

“After my father. He was a good man. With an honest heart, and I thought it would be a strong name. I know it doesn’t mean anything to you, but he needed a name so this is the best I can think of. I couldn’t just keep calling him baby, or baby boy. Which sounded silly to begin with if you ask me.”

She took a deep breath and smiled lightly. “I think the name suits him. He is a beautiful little boy, you would absolutely adore him I’m sure. And I just… I want you to know that I will take good care of him. He will want for nothing, at least not anything material, until you… until you’re back that is. After that he is all yours. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind taking care of him, even though I didn’t really see myself as a mother before, but he is your baby. Obviously. It wasn’t an easy feat if you must know, to clean up the mess in my car.”

Maybe talking to Emma wasn’t so hard after all. Of course she couldn’t expect an answer, but there was no judgement, no pressure either. She could say whatever came to mind without being conscious of what it sounded like to others. 

“I know you didn’t choose this, to give him into someone else’s hands, but I think that this is best. At least you won’t have to worry while you recover,” Regina continued quietly. 

She leaned toward the unresponsive woman on the bed and regarded her silently. There were dark circles under her eyes and her skin was as pale as the pillow beneath her. Her lashes cast long shadows onto her strong cheeks. Her slim lips were slightly parted as she breathed in a steady rhythm, filling her lungs with the oxygen she had been deprived of for several life-threatening minutes. One could almost say that Emma Swan was beautiful, but Regina would not even admit that inside of her mind, let alone out loud. 

They had told her she was eighteen, not even old enough to officially drink alcohol, but she had seemed years older when Regina had met her that first day. The way she had talked, and the fire in her eyes had spoken of far more experience and grief than an eighteen-year-old should ever have to experience. But there wasn’t much more they had been able to tell her, so she set Sydney to the task of finding out more about the newest addition to Storybrooke. So far he had always been able to dig something up about any person, so this shouldn’t be any different.

There hadn’t been anything interesting in her car either. The ugly yellow deathtrap had been towed away to the nearest impound lot, and even though Regina thought it a health risk to drive in that thing she couldn’t bring herself to have it crushed into a small ball of yellow metal. The blonde had seemed rather fond of it and so it was still sitting in its designated spot, ready to be retrieved as soon as its owner was capable to do so.

Regina eventually leaned back and glanced at the clock above the door. It was almost time for her to pick Henry up. Visiting Emma every day after work was affecting her schedule negatively. Now that she had an infant to take care of, everything was a jumbled mess anyway. But then she couldn’t just let the blonde lie there all day by herself, no one talking to her or keeping her company. She got up from the chair and pulled on the sleeves of her blouse to make them fall back into place. She returned the chair to its original position by the table and glanced at Emma one last time before leaving the room.

“Until tomorrow Miss Swan.”


	5. I Ain't Afraid No More

“In prison?”

Regina marched up and down in front of the foot of the bed, her voice raised and her jaw set. “You were just released out of prison and the first thing you do is come into my town?”

She raised the yellow folder in her hand and shook if for emphasis before slapping it onto the bed where it lay just as quietly and immobile as Emma. She raked a hand through her hair and breathed a sigh, trying to ignore the pounding headache behind her eyes.

Sydney had just returned with the news and she still could hardly believe it. Juvenile delinquency - exactly something she did not need in her town.

The thought of Henry having spent the entirety of his unborn life in a little cell with bars in front of the windows made her stomach turn. And it filled her with an unbridled sense of anger. Who would be so careless as to commit a crime with an unborn life inside of them? There was a responsibility to be taken seriously and for a moment she felt like she had every right to take the little boy away from his mother who had been so careless of his health and happiness. What had she to offer him?

Who would want to employ an ex-con? How was she going to take care of him, feed him?

Regina snatched the folder from the bed and flipped it open. It’s contents clearly stated that Emma had been convicted of larceny and had been sentenced to eleven months in prison. She received an early release due to good conduct. 

Regina looked up from the folder and gazed at Emma. She raised her free hand and pinched the bridge of her nose with thumb and forefinger.

“I suppose we all make mistakes,” she said quietly. 

She had taken her fair share of wrong turns and not every decision she’d made had been a good one, so maybe she shouldn’t be too quick to judge after all. 

“But that doesn’t mean you will get out of this easily Miss Swan. We will discuss this issue thoroughly, you can be sure of that.”

Regina grabbed her coat that hung over the chair by the bed and left the hospital room with a quiet “Until tomorrow Miss Swan”.

#-#-#

Usually Regina was not one to fidget, she had utmost control of every movement of her body, but as she sat in the chair next to Emma’s bed she wrung her hands incessantly. She twisted the little silver ring on her finger around until she was sure that her skin was becoming raw underneath. 

“So, I’m not really sure what happened. The doctor and nurses were not very helpful and just kept looking at me weirdly. They said that I was in a coma because there were complications and no oxygen was getting to my brain.”

Emma shrugged, her shoulders looking incredibly thin and frail in the ugly dotted blue hospital gown. Her hair was a mess and she still looked liked death had chewed her up and spit her out a moment ago, but the fact that she was talking, moving, gazing at her threw Regina completely off. She had thought she could simply lay out to the facts to Emma and then discuss how they were going to handle the situation but she was completely at loss for words. Emma was doing most of the talking and they hadn’t even gotten to the important part yet, namely that she had raised Emma’s son for exactly a year, growing so fond of him that she knew it would break her heart into a million pieces if he were taken away from her. 

Regina had used her influence as mayor to change a few things around. Unfortunately it was Gold who had provided the last documents which had allowed her to become the legal guardian of Emma’s son. 

Emma was staring at her, her eyes guarded as she pressed her lips together.

“I’m sorry, did you say something?”

Emma shook her head and took a small breath. Her hands were fisted into the blanket above her legs and she was obviously having a hard time saying what she wanted to say. 

“I’ve tried… but I can’t…my… my baby? Is he…?” Emma asked, her entire body began to shake with the effort of holding the tears in that threatened to escape. 

Regina’s eyes widened and she frantically shook her head. “They didn’t tell you? He is fine, perfectly fine. A healthy little boy, couldn’t be better.”

The breath Emma released came out as a giant sob and she wrapped her arms around her stomach, folding in on herself as a few tears ran down her cheeks. Regina didn’t know what to do. She raised her hand to pat Emma’s shoulder reassuringly but it hung in the air uselessly as she wondered if her touch would be welcomed. Emma looked up and, mistaking Regina’s gesture as an offer, lunged herself into her arms. Emma had her face buried in the crook of her neck and was clutching at her blazer with both hands, stunning Regina into silence. 

She wasn’t good at these things, the truth was that people were usually too afraid to look in her direction let alone touch her. But Emma held onto her with both hands, sobbing quietly, a sound so heartbreaking that Regina could not pull away. She eventually lowered her hands and rested them on Emma’s back, the contours of her spine and ribs like mountains and valleys underneath her fingertips.

She silently cursed the doctors and nurses who had not even thought of telling Emma about her child. She was surrounded by imbeciles. 

Before she had even fully stopped crying, Emma removed herself from Regina’s arms and wiped furiously at her cheeks, a watery smile emerging. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that, but it’s just I’m so relieved that he’s fine.”

Regina nodded and tried to ignore the dark spots on her blue blazer that could be tears or something else entirely. She eventually wiped them away under the guise of pulling on the lapels of her jacket and Emma smirked at the gesture. Now she just needed to get her hands on the sanitizer in her purse. 

“So how long was I out?”

Regina’s mouth fell open gracelessly as she stared at Emma. They hadn’t even told her that? She had half a mind to get up and find Whale to throttle that useless excuse of a doctor with her bare hands. How was she to explain that Emma had been in a coma for twelve months? That her little boy had grown bigger and was now talking, walking. 

She had missed his first step, his first word. It was Regina who he called mom. She had tried to discourage it at first, but when he’d looked at her with those large brown eyes she just couldn’t tell him no. But she had taught him to call Emma mommy as well every time they visited her. It was the least she could do.

“Alright you’re kind of scaring me here,” Emma said, a nervous edge to her voice. She gazed down at her hands as if noticing for the first time how thin they had become. Her collarbones were visible and they stood out in stark contrast to her shoulders and chest. Regina knew Emma had lost a lot of weight during those months, she had seen it happen. But apart from that Emma appeared to be in decent condition. She vaguely remembered Whale saying something about how Emma seemed as if she had been preserved, unchanged in those months of immobility. Regina crinkled her brow.

“Say something please.” 

She got up from the chair and dragged her hands up and down her thighs before straightening and looking down at Emma.

“What I’m going to tell you is not going to be easy to hear. But I need you to listen to me until the end, and I also need you to stay calm. The last thing we want is you getting stressed in your condition.”

Emma gazed at her and looked all the way like a frightened deer that was sure it was going to be run over by a truck at any moment. To her credit she settled back and folded her hands in her lap, taking a deep breath and seemingly steeling herself for whatever Regina had to say.

“Emma, you have been in a come for exactly twelve months.”

Gray-green eyes widened as Emma’s mouth fell open. Other than that she showed no other outward reaction. Regina was watching her very closely but aside from the shocked expression on her face she did not make a single sound. When there was no change after about two minutes, Regina started to worry. She walked back over to the chair and sat down, leaning forward to get Emma’s attention. Emma’s eyes snapped into focus and she gazed at Regina when the brunette waved a hand in front of her face slowly.

“You…you called me Emma.”

#-#-#

 

Regina looked at the flowers in her hands, holding them up to her nose to inhale the sweet fragrance she so enjoyed. It was another beautiful day in Storybrooke, autumn was coloring the leaves and the air had a crisp chill that warranted most people to dig out their coats and warm boots. Regina liked autumn because it was the season where everything slowed down, getting ready for the winter and stocking up for the cold months. She smiled to herself as she walked down the corridor, cradling the flowers against her chest. She was sure Emma would like them. They filled the room with their pleasant scent and kept the usual hospital smell at bay. 

One of the nurses came walking down the corridor toward Regina and stopped in front of her. The nurse was a rather sturdy woman with her mouse-brown hair held in a tight bun at the base of her neck. For some reason she had taken a liking to Regina and kept her up to date with everything concerning Emma. She hadn’t even needed to threaten the woman. 

“Madame Mayor, there is a visitor in her room,” the nurse said.

Regina’s eyebrows rose up to her hairline. “What visitor? Some town official?”

“No. A young man, I’ve never seen him before.”

A sinking feeling settled in the pit of her stomach and her grip on the flowers tightened until the stems started to break under the pressure.

“Thank you…,” Regina glanced at the nurse’s nametag, “Rose. I will speak to this visitor.”

Rose nodded and stepped aside to let Regina pass. She didn’t waste any time and headed straight for Emma’s room, entering it without knocking. Indeed there was someone sitting in the chair next to the bed she usually occupied. The man looked up when Regina stepped inside. For a brief moment she had the feeling that she had seen him before, but when he got up from the chair with a groan it was gone again.

“How may I help you?”

The man narrowed his eyes at Regina and shoved his hands into the pockets of his pants. He looked too scrubby for her tastes, and he reminded her of a stray dog. His clothes were worn and the leather of his black boots was hanging off to the side in strips. 

“Are you a doctor?”

“No, I am the mayor of this town.”

The man cocked his head to the side and regarded the flowers in Regina’s hand before he looked her up and down.

“And who might you be?”

“I’m Emma’s…boyfriend.”

The sensation that went through Regina was entirely foreign to her. It was like something cold and heavy was punching her in the stomach and an icicle was stabbing into her chest. But the ice quickly melted away and was replaced by a fire, hot and liquid, spreading through her veins. She put the flowers down on a nearby table that was already filled with several arrangements in large vases.

“Is that so?” she asked without looking up. 

Instead she began taking the flowers apart and freeing them of unnecessary leaves and stems that were too long. She heard the man shuffling where he stood next to the bed.

“Yeah. I’m Neal. Neal Cassidy.”

“And what exactly brings you here Mr. Cassidy, now?”

The implication in Regina’s words was clear. She turned to look at the man with the coldest calculating glare she had. 

He shrugged his shoulders and his eyes strayed over to Emma. “I didn’t know about… this. I was trying to find her after, well, everything.”

Regina furrowed her brow. He didn’t know. He had absolutely no idea that Emma had been pregnant. So much for being her boyfriend. Maybe he wasn’t even the father. For all she knew he could be some random stranger who just had a disgusting little plan to steal from a person in a coma.

“Well Mr. Cassidy…”

“You can call me Neal.”

“…Mr. Cassidy, it is rather obvious to me that you have not been part of Miss Swan’s life for quite some time, and I cannot be sure that she would appreciate you showing up here.”

“So you have been part of her life then?” he asked. 

He sounded defeated as he kept on staring at Emma. It seemed like he had known her at some point in time, but he hadn’t been there when Emma had given birth to her baby, or when she had been released from prison, so what right did he have to just appear out of nowhere? It wasn’t her responsibility to inform him of the child. Had he cared enough to look for Emma before he would’ve known already. 

“Yes I have,” Regina answered.

She raised her chin and glared at him, daring him to contest her statement.

“So, what happened?”

Neal’s shoulders hunched and he reached out to cup Emma’s pale cheek in his hand. He obviously didn’t care that Regina was also there and she had to fight the urge to just bodily remove him from the room. Before she even had the chance to answer, the door opened and Doctor Rivalle entered. The red-head had been taking good care of Emma ever since everything had gone so terribly wrong all these months ago. She looked up from her a chart she was holding and her eyes traveled from Regina to Neal and back.

“Uh…hello?”

“Hey. You’re the doctor then?”

“I am.”

“And you are?”

“I’m Neal Cassidy, I’m with Emma.”

Dr. Rivalle raised her eyebrows, slowly walking over to the bed. She tapped the chart against the metal bar at the foot and glanced at Regina before turning to Neal. “So you are the fa…?”

Regina’s heart was hammering in her throat. She could not let this happen. She cleared her throat loudly and stepped right into the doctor’s personal space, so much so that they were almost breathing the same air.

“Uh…Madame Mayor?”

“We need to talk,” Regina said, jerking her chin toward the door. “Excuse us for a moment Mr. Cassidy.”

She simply rested a hand on the small of the doctor’s back and guided her across the room and out into the hall. She looked up and down the corridor, making sure nobody could overhear them.

“I know you are probably wondering what this is about,” Regina began.

“Oh I know what you were doing.”

“Is that so…?”

“Yes, you did not want Mr. Cassidy in there to know that she was pregnant, which means that he has no idea. Do you think he could be the father?”

“I don’t know,” Regina hissed, “but I don’t see why he should have any right to him just because he might’ve donated his sperm to the cause.”

“I understand, believe me I do, but what about…?”

“I don’t care,” Regina interrupted harshly. “I will not have this man take Henry. He is obviously not fit for the role of a parent, and I will do whatever it takes to keep Henry.”

Dr. Rivalle seemed to consider her words. “If Mr. Cassidy has indeed no familial ties to Miss Swan then I won’t mention the boy if he doesn’t inquire about him.”

Regina released a breath and nodded. “I appreciate you cooperating in this matter, I’m certain I’ll find a way to show my gratitude.”

A small smile spread across the doctor’s features. “I’m sure you will.”


	6. If Gravity Was Love

Emma was quietly working her jaw. How was she supposed to react to that? She had been in a coma for twelve freaking months, missing an entire year of her life. That was even worse than prison. And here she had vowed not to ever waste a single moment of her life again. None of it was her fault really, and she felt like she had been robbed of something very important. But who could she blame? 

Certainly not the woman standing beside her bed, regarding her with those deep chocolate eyes and a stoic face. Regina had just told her that she had taken care of her son, Henry, for all this time. She had named him. He was starting to string actual sentences together and his first steps had been in Regina’s living room. How the hell was she supposed to react to that?

“He is my son.”

Regina’s eyes narrowed and she took a few steps away from the bed. “I know that,” she said in a thin voice. 

“You gave him a name.”

“What would you suggest I should have called him then? Baby? Boy? He needed a name.”

“But I am his mother, I should’ve given him a name.”

“Like I said, I am well aware.”

“You… took him away from me.”

Regina’s eyes flashed. “I took care of him. I made sure he wants for nothing. He is happy.”

`Of course he is’, Emma thought. Bitterness started settling somewhere in the recesses of her heart. Regina had given him everything she would’ve never been able to give him. A stable home, food in his belly, clothes and toys. Emma had nothing. No money, no job. She couldn’t take care of a child even if she wanted to. She knew that, but still she felt so incredibly angry. She was furious that Regina had taken away the one thing that had ever truly belonged to her. This was so messed up.

“Do you love him?”

Regina’s angry stare dissolved a little as she blinked her eyes. She was kneading her biceps with her hand, arms still crossed in front of her like a protective shield. “Excuse me?”

“Henry. Do you love him?”

Saying the name still felt strange to Emma, but the more often she repeated it in her head, the more she actually came to like it.

“Of course I love him. I have taken care of him this past year. Changed every diaper, soothed every fever and got up every night when he cried.”

Even without her special ability, Emma would’ve known that Regina was telling the truth. Her entire demeanor softened and her eyes spoke volumes. How could she possibly compete with that? Regina was perfect, the mayor and probably a wonderful mother. 

The door to the room opened and a nurse peeked inside. “Sorry Madame Mayor, but visiting hours are over.”

“Can you give me a moment please,” Regina snapped without looking at the poor woman. 

The nurse however was not deterred. “We have a routine Madame Mayor and we will start passing out dinner soon, therefore you need to leave. Hospital policy.”

Regina looked like she wanted to argue with that. Emma didn’t doubt that the first thing she would be doing in the morning was pour over the hospital rules to change them however suited her best. 

“Fine,” she mumbled and leveled the nurse with a glare. 

She grabbed her purse and turned to Emma while slinging it over her shoulder. “We will continue this tomorrow Miss Swan, after you've gotten some rest. Until then.”

An odd expression passed across Regina’s face at those words, but Emma barely noticed it. She was shocked to hear Regina address her so formally again. She didn’t want to admit it, but it hurt. Regina strode past the nurse and out of the room with an air of arrogance surrounding her like a blanket. 

Emma heaved a loud sigh and settled back against the pillow. She was trying to figure out her own feelings and eventually realized that it could’ve been much worse. With Regina she knew that her little boy was in good hands. He wouldn’t end up in the system like her. He would have a loving caring mother, and a home. Maybe this was meant to be, and who was she to stand in the way of fate?

#-#-#

Regina exhaled in a sigh and put her spoon down. It clinked quietly against the saucer, causing green eyes to look in her direction.

“So that is the entire meaning of this date?” Regina asked.

She leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs elegantly, resting one hand beside her little cup of tea.

Dr. Leira Rivalle actually had the decency to blush as she averted her eyes, guiltily moving a spoonful of chocolate cake to her mouth. Regina smirked at that and raised the tea cup to her lips to take a dainty sip. 

She was dressed in one of her black dresses that hugged her figure like a second skin. Her hair was perfect, as was her lightly applied make-up. She had a reputation to uphold, even if that meant looking stunning on a date she had only grudgingly agreed to. Leira had finally called in the favor Regina had promised her in so many words. Now they were on a date, a fake one at that, and she was starting to realize how desperate the good doctor actually was.

Contrary to her earlier assumptions, Leira was not in the slightest interested in her, but in one of the surgeons from the hospital. Regina turned her head under the guise of gazing around the restaurant to look at the woman in question. The surgeon was admittedly beautiful, short blonde hair, so light it looked almost white, dark eyes and a curvaceous body encased in a dark purple dress. During a different time in her life Regina might’ve found that attractive, but now she wasn’t even remotely interested in anything romantic.

She had no idea how Leira had managed to get them a table at one of the classier restaurants in Storybrooke at the same time as the person she had set her eyes on, but she didn’t really care either way. The food was good and the company more or less decent, she could live with being just a means to an end. At least in this case. Leira had simply wanted her there to get a rise out of the usually so composed surgeon. Jealousy seemed to be the last straw Leira was clinging to because her object of desire had yet to react to any of her advances. 

“I know it’s pathetic,” Leira admitted, sighing quietly, “but this was the best I could come up with. You are one of the most stunning women in town, and I thought if she saw me with you, she would realize… I’m boring you, aren’t I?”

Regina raised her eyebrows and cocked her head to the side, regarding the woman across from her with a long gaze. “I would be lying if said that I understand what drives you to such measures, but it is nonetheless entertaining.”

“Gee thanks, and here I thought you were not invested in this at all,” Leira said, sweeping a few strands of red hair out of her face. “And I will tell you what makes me do it, I think I’m love with her.”

“But according to what you’ve told me so far you have barely spoken a handful of words with her. You don’t even know this woman,” Regina answered, trying to sound as disinterested as she possibly could. 

She had no desire to get any more involved in this woman’s life than she already was. She couldn’t care less about who she was in love with. Still she was genuinely interested in what Leira had to say. 

The red-head however only shrugged, a wistful smile crossing her features. “I know that she is generous and friendly to everyone. She fiercely protects her patients and does everything she can to be the best at whatever she takes on. She smiles at me every time I walk past her in the corridor. I don’t need to know more, I just feel it.”

Regina pursed her lips, her thoughts leaving the quaint little restaurant to remember the blonde she had met three months ago and who was now still in the same hospital room Regina had chosen for her. To be in love with someone one barely knew? That was ridiculous really, and Henry didn’t count. He was a baby, who would not love him after a little less than a week? 

Leira leaned forward and regarded Regina with a raised eyebrow. “What are you thinking? Have I hit a nerve there?”

Regina scoffed and flicked her hair with the tips of her fingers. “Far from it. I actually have a couple of tax reports I could be looking over right now.”

The tiny smile playing around mouth betrayed her serious tone and Leira chuckled quietly, resting her lower arms on the table while she gazed at her. Regina saw a movement in the corners of her eyes. Without actively noticing it she had kept an eye on the surgeon sitting across the room and she realized that the woman and her company had gotten up and were heading their way. Without thinking about it, Regina leaned forward and reached out to cover Leira’s hand with her own. 

The red-head’s eyes snapped to her face and both of her eyebrows rose to her hairline. To every onlooker they probably looked like they were having an actual date complete with some handholding and sharing dessert. The surgeon, Regina hadn’t bothered to find out her name, walked past their table and smiled briefly at Leira accompanied by a small nod. But her eyes darkened as soon as she saw their hands on top of the table. The look that she gave Regina was far from friendly and she sent one of her fake mayoral smiles in the surgeon’s direction. Leira was still a little preoccupied with the whole hand holding business and barely managed to gaze at the surgeon before she had walked by their table. 

“What…?”

Regina removed her hand as soon as the surgeon was gone and leaned back. She shook her head at the woman sitting across from her and quietly clicked her tongue. “What exactly have you been doing to get her attention? Because I’m pretty certain she was about to drag me out of here with her bare hands.”

Leira’s eyes widened and she opened her mouth a couple of times without uttering a single sound. People could be so extremely dense sometimes Regina thought, and that coming from her meant something. She didn’t have the best record when it came to relationships. In fact she didn’t really have a record at all. 

After dessert they decided to end their faux date and Leira vowed that she would finally step up her game and show the surgeon how much she liked her. 

“Ursula will not be able to resist,” she said as she walked beside Regina across the parking lot. 

“Ursula?” Regina asked, slight disbelief coloring her tone.

Her eye twitched at saying the name and she gazed at the red-head beside her briefly before shrugging. Leira didn’t seem to notice and only smiled at her when they reached the car.

“Well, I guess I should thank you. I know my way of getting you to do this was less than charming but you would’ve never agreed to it otherwise.”

“You’re certainly right about that.”

Leira shifted uneasily and looked at Regina before averting her eyes. 

“So Mr. Cassidy has left Storybrooke for good?”

“I certainly hope so.”

“But what if he returns and eventually finds out about the baby?”

Regina worked her jaw, her eyes immediately darkening. “I will see to it that it does not happen, believe me.”

“I hope you know what you’re doing Madame Mayor. Thank you again for coming with me tonight. I will see you at the hospital.”

“You will,” Regina answered and nodded.

She turned and got into her car without another word, enjoying the music that whispered out of the speakers. 

She drove home without thinking about the situation on her hands. She had enough problems to handle without a man in her town who might or might not be the father of the baby she had taken into her care. 

She parked the car and walked over to her front door. She unlocked it and slipped inside, still feeling odd at the sight of lights turned on and the sound of the television coming from the living room. Kathryn had fallen asleep on the couch, her head hanging at an awkward angle over the back of it. Regina smirked and woke the slumbering woman who apologized profusely for her little nap.

They said their goodbyes and Regina was already on her way up the stairs before Kathryn had made it down her porch. She opened the door to the dark room as silently as she could and tiptoed inside to stand beside the little bed in the middle of it. She gazed down at the little human sleeping soundly. It was the most precious sight and she couldn’t remember ever having felt this kind of love welling inside her heart. 

She already knew that this was leading toward an undeniable catastrophe, but there seemed to be nothing she could do to stop it.


	7. Out Of No Reason I've Decided To Stay

“What do you mean gone?”

The nurse looked around nervously, trying to avoid Regina’s glare and making sure that someone was around to help her against the mayor’s wrath. 

She lightly lifted her shoulders and cleared her throat. “I mean that she released herself a couple of hours ago. The doctor was going to give her permission to leave anyway, so she asked to be released earlier. It is pretty strange really, if you ask me, since she is almost fine after being in a coma for such a long time. No one here has ever heard of something like that happening, but still, she was well enough to be released. There was no reason why she shouldn’t have gone.”

“Of course there is. I was supposed to be here,” Regina answered.

She was beyond angry. How could these people be so completely incompetent? Now she had to go look for the infuriating woman even though she had planned to simply pick her up from the hospital. They had a lot to talk about. Regina had already contacted her lawyer and she was prepared to see this through. But Emma Swan obviously had other plans. She seemed to be out to drive her mad. 

Regina thought it a waste of her time to speak with the nurse a single moment longer and simply turned on her heels to march down the corridor. 

Finding Emma’s hospital room completely empty with the bed already made and prepared for the next person had shocked her. It had taken a moment until she realized that the woman had simply run out on her. 

She’d looked all over the room for the little figurine she had left there a couple of months ago. It had been a little dog with large eyes and tongue rolling out of its mouth. She usually wasn’t one to enjoy such childish decoration, but Henry had laughed at the silly thing for several minutes when he had seen it in the store so she had bought it. But then it hadn’t really fit in with the rest of her decor and she had decided to put it into Emma’s room so Henry could see it every time they visited and would associate these four walls with something positive. 

He loved that thing, and now it was gone. Those idiots had probably thrown it out as soon as Emma had left her bed. Regina worked her jaw and stormed out of the elevator straight through the main entrance door and to the parking lot. She got into her car and sat there for a couple of moments, thinking hard. There weren’t many places Emma could’ve gone since she had no means of transportation. Then it hit her. She started the car and drove off. 

But by the time she got to the towing company, the greasy man inside his little booth in front of the impound lot told her that the ugly yellow car was gone. Regina was so close to banging her fist against the window that protected the man who regarded her with quiet disinterest. Her fingers were tightly clenched together and her hand was already moving upward. She needed to get a hold of herself. 

Pummeling this man senseless wouldn’t help her situation in any way. Instead she turned with a low growl rising in her throat and stalked back to her car. There was only one road out of Storybrooke and if Emma wanted to leave she would have to take it. But she surely wouldn’t go without Henry. He was at Kathryn’s and she would call Regina the second Emma showed up on her doorstep. 

Taking a deep breath she decided to take her chances and drive through town and out to the ‘Welcome to Storybrooke’ sign. She had a sinking feeling in her stomach but just couldn’t figure out why. If Emma left the town without Henry it would solve all of her problems at once, wouldn’t it?

She was on her way past Gold’s shop, driving toward Granny’s when she saw it. The yellow car stood out like beacon of light in the backdrop of the grayish rainy day. Small droplets started to hit her windshield just as she pulled over into a parking space and got out. She quickly crossed the street and walked over to the entrance of the little diner, ripping the door open with much more force than was necessary.

She held the door open with one hand and rested her other palm against the door frame, a scowl painting her features. The rain was falling harder now and a loud rumble of thunder sounded along with the bell above the door. Every single pair of eyes in the diner turned to her, including surprised green grayish orbs.

“Miss Swan,” she growled and stepped inside, letting the door fall shut behind her.

Regina looked around quickly, daring anyone to glance her way when she stared at them head-on but almost everyone returned to what they had been doing before her rather dramatic entrance.

Ruby was leaning on the counter across from Emma, her eyes still fixed on Regina with her mouth slightly agape. Regina raised her eyebrow at the waitress as she came to stand beside Emma. Ruby blinked and quickly glanced at Emma before clearing her throat and stepping away to tend to other customers. Regina fixed her glare on Emma instead, invading her personal space in a manner that was way beyond comfortable. Emma however seemed unfazed and stared back at her.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“What do you mean?”

“Leaving the hospital like that? Your car. You were going to leave.”

“It crossed my mind,” Emma admitted and Regina deflated for a moment.

She had no idea why this admission felt like someone had punched her in the gut. 

“But I’m not. I’ll stay.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, Ruby offered me a room at the Bed and Breakfast.”

“And you’ve accepted that offer?”

Emma raised her eyebrows and nodded. Regina just stood there and finally decided to lean back to give Emma some air. This was not how she’d imagined the conversation to go. In fact she wasn’t entirely sure what to say at all. Emma had decided to stay, but had yet to put her claim on Henry into words. As if sensing her thoughts, Emma smiled slightly and cocked her head to the side.

“How about I come by your place tonight, and we can talk?”

“Tonight?”

“Yeah, I mean you probably have work and stuff, with being the mayor and all.”

Of course Emma was right. She had so many unfinished paperwork and after driving through town all morning she was even more behind on it. Emma’s offer to talk seemed genuine and she definitely had no desire to discuss her private problems in front of a crowd, so she found herself nodding.

“I expect you at eight. Sharp.”

Emma smirked a little. “Yes Madame Mayor.”

The way Emma said her title made the Regina’s skin tingle in interesting places. There was an itching sensation at the back of her head as if someone was staring at her and she felt like she had experienced this before, but couldn’t remember when or where. She stood there a little too long, just gazing at Emma until the blonde began to fidget.

“Is there anything else?”

“You know that he will be there, yes?”

Emma swallowed and her face took on an even lighter shade of pale. It made the dark circles under her eyes stand out more. She looked so thin and fragile in that moment that Regina found herself leaning forward again.

“It will be alright,” she said quietly.

She was surprised by her own words but hoped that they were true nonetheless. There was so much that could go wrong, so much at stake and yet there was no other way. She needed to do this, as did Emma.

The blonde shot her small thankful smile and Regina inhaled quietly before turning to leave. Rain was now pouring down and she would be soaked by the time she got to her car. She sighed and lifted the collar of her coat to avert some of the water droplets. She didn’t look back, but felt Emma’s gaze boring into her as she stepped outside and hurried back to her car.

Ever since she had changed to driving the van, she had been thankful for the automatic doors almost every day. She had only switched from driving her Mercedes to this because of Henry. She thought that more space would be better for him and the car was much newer and therefore safer. The irony wasn’t lost on her. She had turned almost her entire life around for a baby that wasn’t even her own. 

#-#-#

Her day dragged on and on, and she was having a difficult time focusing on the paperwork just piling up on her desk. By then time she left her office she felt completely drained. A headache was starting to throb inside her temples and all she wanted was to get home, give a kiss to Henry and take very long, very hot bath to relax. But no, Emma was coming over for dinner and she had a little less than two hours to prepare something before getting ready to face what was certainly going to be an unpleasant conversation. 

Emma would want to see Henry and it would be the first time after, well, she had given birth. Regina groaned quietly as she locked the door to her office and leaned her forehead against the cool wood for a moment. She should’ve picked a different day for this. She had half a mind to call Emma and cancel, but somehow she feared that the blonde would take this entirely the wrong way and do something rash. And Regina wanted to deal with that even less. 

So she drove over to Kathryn’s and picked Henry up. He was tired and she put him to bed as soon as she got home. 

She changed out of her blouse, blazer and skirt into something more comfortable while she cooked, planning on dressing more formally before Emma arrived. But after she’d put the lasagna in the oven and prepared the salad she sat down in the living room to just relax for a moment. It seemed like only minutes later when she was woken by the doorbell. The smell of lasagna wafted over to her from the kitchen and she hastened to the oven to take it out. 

The egg timer behind her screeched happily just in time announce that the lasagna was done. Regina blew some air out of the corner of her mouth to puff away some strands of hair that had fallen into her eyes. She flapped her hands to get the kitchen mitt off and then moved to the front door. The bell was ringing again and Regina muttered under her breath at Emma’s impatience.

She was about to reach for the doorknob when she realized that she was still in her casual attire which consisted of a simple white shirt, a brown cardigan and worn jeans she only used for cooking or gardening purposes. She looked ridiculous. How could she face Emma like that?

“Open the door Regina, I can see the shadow of your feet.”

Regina rolled her eyes. There was no changing it now so she simply opened the door and looked at Emma with a mild scowl on her face. Maybe she wouldn’t even notice, after all Emma lived in that kind of clothing. But to her dismay green-grayish eyes widened slightly as Emma took in her appearance, literally letting her gaze travel from her face down to her feet and back up again.

“You…uh…look nice.”

“I didn’t have time to change,” Regina dismissed and stepped aside to let Emma enter. 

Emma’s eyes were still glued to her until she walked into the house and her attention was drawn to the foyer and the rest of its pristine interior. Everything was spotless, exactly like Regina preferred her house to be. Aside from the one or other toy and children’s book in her living room there was not a thing out of place. 

“Nice house,” Emma commented.

“Thank you.”

Regina held her hand out to Emma and the blonde stared at it as if Regina was expecting her to kiss it. 

“Your jacket.”

“Oh, here.”

Emma awkwardly shrugged out of her red leather jacket and Regina scrunched up her nose in distaste. This was probably one of the ugliest pieces of clothing she had ever seen. That Emma had probably tucked it away somewhere in the trunk of her death trap didn’t make it any easier to touch the thing and hang it up. She refused however to put it into her wardrobe and simply hung on a hook on the outside of the door. Emma didn’t seem to notice. She was looking around the house with her lips parted. 

“I hope you’re hungry, I made lasagna,” Regina said and walked past Emma toward the kitchen. 

It took a moment for Emma to follow but her steps eventually echoed through the foyer and she joined Regina by the kitchen isle.

“It smells amazing.”

“Wait till you taste it. I have a special ingredient.”

Regina smiled lightly and was surprised by the wide-eyed look Emma was still giving her when she turned around. She looked like she expected Regina to break out a chainsaw at any moment to chop her head off. She chose to ignore it and moved around the kitchen to get some plates and silverware. She unceremoniously put the salad bowl into Emma’s hands and nodded toward the dining table.

“Bring that over there, will you?”

Emma nodded silently and carried the salad bowl over to the table. Regina followed soon after and they set the table together, complete with to glasses and an unopened bottle of wine. Regina retrieved the lasagna and put the steaming dish down in between them. 

“Help yourself.”

Emma didn’t need to be told twice. She dug right in and filled her plate to full capacity before getting a first taste without even waiting for Regina to do the same. Her slight annoyance at the woman’s table manners was soothed when Emma closed her eyes and moaned appreciatively.

“That is the best lasagna I’ve ever had.” 

“I certainly hope so dear,” Regina said with a smirk.

She opened the wine bottle and poured herself a generous amount. There was no way she could go through this without a single drop of alcohol. She moved the bottle to hover over Emma’s glass and raised her eyebrow in question. Emma could probably use it as much as she did. For a brief moment she remembered that Emma wasn’t even officially allowed to drink yet, but then again she seemed much older than she actually was. Emma nodded and Regina filled her glass as well.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Did Whale say anything about drinking to you?”

“Nope.”

“Alright.”

Heavy silence surrounded them after that and beside Emma’s fork scraping across the plate there was no sound in the entire house. Before Regina had finished half of her lasagna, Emma was already going for seconds. 

“Leave some room for dessert,” Regina commented quietly and Emma immediately stopped piling even more food onto her plate. She blushed lightly and smiled apologetically. “Sorry.”

“No need to apologize. You can take some of the leftovers later if you’d like. I won’t have time for dinner tomorrow anyway.”

“Thank you.”

The quiet that followed wasn’t as awkward as Regina had expected and she emptied another glass of wine along with her lasagna before she got up to take the dishes into the kitchen. Emma followed without being asked and put her plate and silverware into the sink. 

“I can help you clean if you want,” she offered, but Regina shook her head.

“It’s quite alright. I will do that later.”

Because of the way the evening had been progressing so far - too easy and too quiet - she was sure that she would need something to occupy her thoughts when Emma left. Cleaning always managed to calm her. It gave her hands something to do while her mind stayed blissfully blank. 

Emma had that scared look on her face again, like she was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. As if Regina would kick her out after dinner without allowing her to see Henry. Well, she could if she wanted to. It was her house after all, but that would’ve been cruel, even for her standards.

“So Miss Swan, are you ready to go upstairs? Henry is sleeping, but if you want to hold him…,” Regina said, gesturing toward the part of the house where the stairs led to the upper level.

Emma gave a nod and waited for Regina to lead the way. But before she had made two steps, Regina felt a hand lightly resting on her lower arm. She turned back to Emma with a questioning gaze.

“Could you…I mean would you call me Emma again? This feels so weird, we’re not strangers. Only if you want to of course.”

Regina nodded, more to herself than to Emma and smiled quietly. “If you wish dear. Shall we?”

With that Regina turned and headed through the hall and up the stairs, Emma’s steps following her with reassuring heaviness.


	8. Present A Solution To The Problem

Emma’s knees were weak. Her entire body was shaking and she wasn’t sure she could hold the little bundle in her arms without dropping it. 

The little room upstairs was perfect. It had everything a baby could possibly want or need. A beautiful wooden bed, a few toys here and there, comfortable looking blankets, a changing table and a small nightlight that cast a soft glow across the entire room. 

Regina was bending over the bed, smiling down at what was hidden within. She reached down and picked up the bundle that was a sleeping Henry. The look on her face made Emma’s heart clench. It was so full of adoration and love. The nightlight made Regina look softer and younger, her entire mayoral mask now completely gone. Her shoulders were relaxed and she curled her body instinctively around a sleeping Henry in her arms. It was more like a mayoral bodysuit, now that Emma thought about it.

Emma was so distracted by her thoughts that she only realized Regina had moved away from the bed and toward her when she was confronted with brown eyes gazing at her face.

“Would you like to hold him?” Regina asked.

There was something vulnerable about her voice, the way she asked that question. Everything about her screamed that she was reluctant to give Henry out of her arms but still she allowed Emma to take him. Emma swallowed, trying to fight down the nervousness and panic rising in her throat. What if she couldn’t hold him right? What if she dropped him?

She shakily held her arms out and Regina carefully placed Henry into her embrace, a look of hurt briefly flickered across her features. Emma tried to smile reassuringly at her, but was distracted as she gazed down into the sleeping face of her baby. Henry hadn’t woken from being carried around and only burrowed into Emma while pursing his lips in sleep. Her heart was beating right into her throat and her stomach did a flip like she had never experienced before. Her legs were shaky and she wasn’t sure if she could remain standing for that much longer. She felt a hand on the small of her back and looked up to see Regina next to her.

“You can sit,” she whispered.

She inclined her head toward a chair next to the bed that looked like a modern comfortable version of a rocking chair. Emma nodded, not taking her eyes away from the sleeping baby in her arms and moved over to the chair to slowly lower herself into the cushions. She began gently rocking back and forth as tears gathered in her eyes.

“I’ll leave you two for a moment,” Regina whispered and turned to walk over to the door. 

Emma looked up and looked at the Regina’s back for a moment.

“Thank you,” she breathed, her voice thick from the unshed tears gathered in her eyes.

This thank you held much more meaning that Emma wanted to acknowledge, but she truly was grateful for what Regina had done. Regina seemed to understand and turned to smile at Emma before slipping out of the room. Emma gazed down at the little human being in her arms.

“Oh god,” Emma whispered.

She lifted her hand and traced her fingertips along Henry’s forehead and cheek. He was beautiful, perfect. And not hers. The tears in her eyes now spilled over and ran down her cheeks. Emma knew Regina loved him. So how could she take him away from her? This would never work. They could hardly share custody over him. Regina wouldn’t want that. There was really only one thing she could to. The right thing. Even if it meant her heart would break, maybe beyond repair.

A tear dropped right onto Henry’s cheek and he scrunched up his nose and in turn his entire face. His little hands moved up to his face without actually touching it before sleep and gravity forced them down again. A tearful laugh escaped Emma and she smiled down at him.

“This will be for the best. Believe me.”

#-#-#

It took Emma a bit to find Regina in the large house. After putting Henry back into his bed and going in search of a bathroom to make sure her eyes weren’t red and puffy, she had come down the stairs to a darkened foyer and dining room. Regina wasn’t in the kitchen either, but Emma noticed light coming from another part of the house and saw the door to the study ajar. She pushed it open and found Regina standing in front of the cold fireplace, a candle flickering on the mantelpiece instead. She was holding a glass with a dark liquid inside, moving it in her hand from one side to the other.

“He’s still sleeping,” Emma said quietly.

Regina’s shoulders visibly tensed before she inclined her head in Emma’s direction. “He started sleeping through the night pretty early on.”

They were steadily moving toward the unpleasant part of this evening, but Emma didn’t want to disturb the comfortable atmosphere. All she needed to say was what she knew deep down in her heart to be true. She could ease Regina’s apparent fears in less than a moment. But the words just wouldn’t come out. She wasn’t ready yet.

“I should probably get going,” she said instead.

Regina’s head now turned fully to her, the knuckles on her hand still holding her glass going white.

“I’ll stay at the Bed and Breakfast for now. And uh… I would like to repeat this sometime. The dinner I mean, and just spending time with Henry. And you.”

She shoved her hands into the pockets of her jeans and looked down at the carpet for a moment. She didn’t need to see the confusion on Regina’s face to know it was there. This was probably not how either of them had expected the evening to go, but Emma had enjoyed the dinner, despite her nervousness and the tension rolling off of Regina in waves. The food was excellent, of course, and the time she spent with Regina allowed her a view into a world she had never known before. She was utterly intrigued by the older woman. 

Regina was so strong and confident. There were hardly any cracks in her perfect facade when one wasn’t looking closely, but Emma knew they were there. She’d seen glimpses of them when Regina had stayed with her in the hospital twelve months ago, and when she’d held Henry in her arms.

Regina took a quiet breath and put the glass down as she passed the table to walk over to Emma. She gazed at her for several silent moments, the look on her face a mixture between confusion and relief.

“Emma you -”

Emma held up a hand to silence Regina. The mayor raised an eyebrow, clearly not used to being interrupted so rudely. Emma smiled crookedly and raked a hand through her curls until it got stuck on a tangle and she dropped it with a shrug.

“I know what you’re going to say. But I don’t think I am ready to talk yet. I just… I don’t want you to worry. I know that he is fine here, and I won’t do anything rash or stupid. I promise. Let’s just take this one step at a time okay? This is new to me too. Actually I have no freaking idea what I’m doing.”

“You’ve been doing pretty well so far,” Regina said, the hint of a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

Emma felt a blush creeping up her neck and averted her eyes to look at her boots. She probably should’ve taken them off. Regina’s house was much too nice for her to trample around in with her boots, but she’d been too preoccupied at the time. She took a few steps back toward the door and off the carpet before looking up. 

“I should go.”

“How are you going to get to the Bed and Breakfast?”

“Well I drove here.” 

She’d had a little too much wine to drive back, she hadn’t been able to resist, so she was going to have to walk back. The wine was probably the most expensive alcohol she’d ever tasted but she understood why Regina liked it. The velvety taste slid down her throat, leaving her with a wonderful little buzz.

“I’m just going to walk,” she said with half a shrug.

Brown eyes wandered past her to look at the hall before returning to Emma’s face. Regina hesitated for a moment, but then tilted her head slightly. “You can stay here for the night if you like. There is a spare bedroom. It’s cold out and I wouldn’t want you walking by yourself in the dark. You just got released from the hospital today.”

“That’s nice of you, really… I mean thank you.”

It was true that she had only signed the release papers this morning, but the day felt much longer than that. After walking through town to get her car the guy at the impound lot had taken pity on her and simply allowed her to take the car and leave. She’d driven around aimlessly, contemplating what to do next. Several times she had been about to just leave the town and never look back, but when she’d seen the diner she’d parked in front of all these months ago she just had to go inside. Their hot chocolate was amazing, and Ruby, the waitress, seemed like a genuinely nice person. Emma didn’t trust easily but she had learned to figure out who were the bad guys pretty early on. Some were harder to read, but they all gave themselves away eventually.

Regina was an entirely different matter. She was never sure what to expect, and she couldn’t tell what exactly Regina wanted and how far she was willing to go to get it. There probably wasn’t much that was denied to her, and Emma was sure Regina was used to getting her way.

“Let me show you the room. There should also be fresh sleepwear in the dresser.”

Regina turned around and walked back to the table. She picked up her glass and downed the rest of the dark liquid before putting it down. Emma followed her out of the study and up the stairs again past Henry’s door to another room that Emma would’ve easily mistaken for the master bedroom. Regina walked over to the dresser and opened the drawers to briefly look inside. It seemed like she hadn’t been in this room for a while, like she didn’t have guests over very often.

“I’ll be down the hall if you need anything, but I suppose everything should be sufficient. The bathroom is across the hall, and you already know where the kitchen is.”

Emma nodded and stepped aside to let Regina walk out of the room. She turned briefly and nodded. “Goodnight Emma.”

“Night,” she answered quietly, but Regina had already departed toward her own room, leaving Emma to stare out into the hallway. 

She quietly closed the door and exhaled a sigh when the lock clicked into place. This was crazy. She shouldn’t have accepted Regina’s offer to stay overnight. Henry was right down the hall, just a few steps away. How could Regina be sure that she didn’t grab him in the middle of the night and just run? Maybe that is why she asked her to stay, as a test. Regina probably wouldn’t get a single bit of sleep while trying to listen for any noises she might be making during the night. Emma shrugged her shoulders. If this was what it took to prove to Regina that she wasn’t going to do anything stupid, so be it. 

Emma looked around the room. It was exquisitely furnished, not a thing out of place, but there was also an air of impersonality. Nothing reminded of the woman living in this big house. Emma’s eyes came to rest on the bed while she still stood by the door. It looked comfortable, the sheets had a silken shine to them, but she just couldn’t bring herself to move closer. 

She’d spent twelve months sleeping, so she couldn’t possibly be tired again. She should be able to make it through two or three days without sleep, but instead she felt exhaustion creeping up on her after the day’s events. Fretting over spending the evening with Regina and seeing Henry for the first time had taken more out of her than she’d been willing to admit. But she just couldn’t go to bed. Not yet. Instead she grabbed the black silken pajamas she found in the dresser and headed over to the bathroom across the hall. 

After a quick shower she put on the pajamas, delighting in the fresh scent and silky feel. She returned to the guest room and grabbed the comforter from the bed to curl up in a plush armchair by the window. She snuggled into the thick blanket and pulled her feet up onto the chair, knees pressing against her chest. 

She crinkled her brow and looked around the room again. It was more nicely furnished than any house or apartment she had ever lived in. In fact she had never even set foot into a house like that. She hadn’t expected anything but expensive taste from Regina, but the truth of it still made her nervous.

“This is a freaking mess,” she said into the semi-darkness of the room.


	9. Concentrate On The Destination, Miss The Journey There And Back

The scream was like a high-pitched sound piercing right through the air. And just wouldn’t stop. She had tried everything and still it didn’t stop. Every time Henry became quiet he just took a breath to come back again with even more force than his tiny lungs should allow. Regina was pacing the room, glancing at the bed again and again.

“I changed your diaper. I fed you, and I sang to you. So what is it you want?” she asked, but she could barely hear her own voice over the sound of Henry’s cries. 

She wasn’t cut out for this. What had she been thinking, trying to take care of an infant?  
Regina stopped her pacing and moved over to the bed to look down at the unhappy little human. Henry’s face was scrunched up and his toothless mouth open in a scream. 

“I don’t know what you want.”

She was clenching her hands around the side of the bed and took a deep breath before reaching inside and lifting Henry to her chest. He was still screaming but it was not as loud and a couple of hiccups found their way in between the cries. Regina raised her eyebrows and cradled Henry more safely against her, taking his blanket and covering him with it so that one end hung over her shoulder down her back. She gently swayed back and forth and watched in amazement how his little face smoothed out and his cries became quieter and less frequent and until he finally took a deep breath and was completely silent. His steady breaths were accompanied by Regina’s quiet laughter that floated through the air. She held him for a little while longer until she was sure that he was really asleep before carefully putting him back into his little bed. She took a long breath through her nose and gazed down at the sleeping boy. 

“That wasn’t so bad, now was it?”

#-#-#

Henry was still sleeping soundly as she peered into his room. He had pushed his blanket down to tangle around his legs and his arms were spread across the entirety of the small mattress. Regina smiled and closed the door silently before she turned around walked down the hall to the guest bedroom. She hesitated in front of the door and decided that she would only glance inside briefly to make sure Emma was alright. All kinds of things could be happening while she was in a room alone. She’d just woken from a year long coma and probably shouldn’t be without any kind of supervision. So she quietly opened the door only to find the bed empty. Furrowing her brow she stepped further into the room and saw a blanket as well as the pajamas she’d given Emma the night before folded on the armchair by the window. 

A small piece of paper was perched atop the clothes and she walked over to the chair to pick it up. She squinted at the writing and had to hold it away from her face to actually make out the words. 

_Thank you for letting me stay over. Dinner was great, I’d like to do it again sometime.  
Say hi to Henry from me. How about lunch today at Granny’s?   
\- Emma_

Emma’s handwriting was ridiculous. It took her about two minutes to decipher the entire message and she huffed quietly as she dropped it back onto the chair. She didn’t even explain why she’d left that early in the morning and then that invitation to lunch. Really?

Regina walked back out of the room and closed the door behind her. She could take care of the cleaning later, for now she just wanted a coffee and today’s crossword puzzle. Kathryn would be arriving soon anyway and she still had to get dressed for work. Emma Swan or not, her life continued and she couldn’t just put everything on hold because Sleeping Beauty had finally decided to wake up. 

She changed into her usual pencil skirt, blouse and blazer before checking on Henry again. He was still fast asleep so she probably would leave the morning routine to Kathryn this time. Her friend had proven to be irreplaceable in these past months. Kathryn had told her just recently that she considered becoming a fulltime nanny. She loved being around children and there were plenty of working mothers in Storybrooke who could use the help. 

On most days Regina simply took Henry into the office with her. He was a rather quiet child and could entertain himself for hours on end before falling asleep right in the middle of the floor. She would then put him on the couch and cover him with a blanket until he woke up just in time for them to leave. Being the mayor certainly had its perks and absolutely no one could tell her how when and where to take care of her child. 

Emma’s child, a small voiced reminded her.

Regina made it downstairs just in time to open the door for Kathryn. She looked too chipper for such an early morning but Regina still returned her bright smile with a small one of her own. 

“Would you like some coffee?”

“Sure, is Henry up?”

“No, he seems to be sleeping in today.”

Kathryn followed her into the kitchen where she fiddled with the coffee machine. 

“So guess who I saw walking toward the Bed and Breakfast on my way here,” Kathryn said. 

Regina kept her back to the other woman and opened one of the cabinets to put two mugs down beside the coffee machine. “This town is rather large and if I had to name every single person that could’ve possibly been walking around this morning I would be late for work.”

She didn’t need to see Kathryn’s eyeroll to know it was there. “Fine, I’ll tell you then. I saw Emma.”

Regina hummed quietly in response, not turning around.

“Are you going to tell me?”

“Tell you what dear?”

Kathryn made a frustrated little noise. “Oh come one Regina, I know she was here last night and she obviously stayed.”

“Well yes, it was rather late and it would’ve been silly for Miss Swan to walk back into town when I have a guest room right here.”

Kathryn was quiet for so long that Regina eventually turned around. She found her friend staring at her with a furrowed brow. 

“How did she react?” Kathryn asked quietly. 

“Quite well I’d say, considering… everything,” Regina replied and leaned against the counter, resting her hands on either side of her hips. “It was a shock, of course, but she seemed calm.”

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine.” Regina turned around again and filled both mugs with hot coffee before placing one in front of Kathryn. 

“I know this can’t be easy for you. I mean Henry -”

“I’m fine,” Regina interrupted, taking a sip from her own mug. 

Kathryn was one of her closest friends and her mind briefly hesitated at the reminder that there was someone else dear to her whom she hadn't visited in a while. She would have to make sure to remedy that soon.

"Regina?" Kathry asked.

“I should get going,” she said quietly and emptied her mug into the sink. She turned to head up to Henry’s room. Once there she bent over the small bed to kiss his smooth forehead. “I’ll see you tonight, be a good boy." 

Gathering her purse, she made her way to the foyer where Kathryn was already waiting. 

“Call me if you need anything.”

Kathryn nodded with a smile, not bothering to answer since Regina left the house with the same words every morning. For a moment, she imagined not her friend standing in the foyer but someone who would kiss her goodbye before a long day at the office. Regina blinked several times and walked out the door with a small wave. Maybe some paperwork would help her organize her thoughts.

#-#-#

She drove into town, her eyes unconsciously scanning the sidewalks for a red leather jacket but Emma was nowhere to be seen. 

Her day at the office started as any other and by the time lunch rolled around a mild headache was working its way from the base of her skull to her temples. She put her pen down, aligning it with the stack of papers still sitting in front of her, and leaned back into her chair. She was contemplating going to Granny’s for lunch when her phone buzzed quietly. 

She picked it up and pressed the knuckles of her free hand against her forehead, closing her eyes. 

“Yes?”

“Madame Mayor, a Miss Swan is here to see you,” her assistant Leslie answered.

Regina’s eyes opened again and it took her several seconds to gather her thoughts. 

“Madame Mayor?”

“Yes, right, send her in.”

She put her phone down again and got up from her office chair. What could Emma possible want from her? Before she could further contemplate Emma’s motif for showing up in her office, the door opened and Emma slipped inside. 

She looked around with wide eyes before her gaze settled on Regina and she smiled. “Hey.”

Regina raised an eyebrow. “Hello… Emma. Is something wrong?”

“What? No, no everything’s fine. I just wanted to stop by, because I thought, you know, you might be hungry.”

Emma raised a brown paper bag for Regina to see. It was unmistakably from Granny’s. 

“I got your usual order for you.”

“Why?”

“Well… uh… after you made dinner last night, I thought it was the least I could do,” Emma answered, shuffling around nervously.

Regina realized that she was making Emma uncomfortable with her usual no-nonsense business facade. 

“That was quite thoughtful of you, thank you,” she said quietly and Emma’s face lit up. 

“Have a seat.”

She gestured toward her sofa and walked around to a chest of drawers where a crystal carafe with water was waiting. Emma unpacked their lunch onto the small table in front of the couch while she filled two glasses with water and carried them over to Emma. She sat down as well and reached for one of the white plastic containers. Inside was her usual order of salad with sliced chicken breast and Granny’s special dressing. 

She smiled at the delicious smell that wafted through her office and glanced at Emma. Her smile widened into a smirk as she watched Emma take a huge bite out of a greasy cheeseburger. Her eyes closed and she nodded to herself as if this burger was the best thing she’d ever eaten. 

Regina’s brow furrowed in thought. Everything she knew about Emma had been sent to her in a manila envelope and none of the details of her life seemed particularly happy or easy. So maybe this was indeed one of the best things Emma had ever eaten. 

Emma had stopped chewing and was now staring back at her. She hadn’t realized that she’d gotten so lost in thought and covered her little slip with a bite of her salad. “I appreciate you taking the time to bring me lunch.”

Emma blushed and looked down at the bag of fries in her lap. “Oh, well, no problem, really.”

They ate quietly for several minutes until Regina’s voice broke through the silence. “Henry is with a babysitter.”

Emma’s head snapped toward her and she continued quietly. “My friend Kathryn has been watching him whenever I have appointments or need to work late. Sometimes I take him with me to the office.”

Emma was thoughtfully chewing on a fry before she smiled at Regina. “I see.”

It was all she said but there seemed to be much more meaning behind those two words than Regina could comprehend. 

“You’re welcome to join us for dinner again,” Regina offered.

“Thank you, but… rain check?”

Regina nodded slowly and finished the rest of her lunch. “Certainly.”

She got up to gather their trash and toss it away. Emma jumped to her feet as well and quickly walked over to the door. “Alright, I’ll see you soon then.”

Before Regina could even utter a single word, Emma had slipped out of the office, leaving her standing there somewhat confused. 

#-#-#

Emma shook her head at herself as she walked down the street. She stuffed her hands into the pockets of her jacket and snorted quietly at the absurdity of the situation. 

She had nothing, no money, no job. Ruby and Granny had offered her a room at the B&B for as long she needed it, telling her that she could pay them back later, but they all knew that she would probably never be able to. 

Regina was taking care of Henry, being the perfect mom really, so where did that leave her? Regina was being wonderful about this, had even invited her to dinner again, but somehow she felt like an intruder. This wasn’t her town, and it seemed like Henry wasn’t really her family anymore either. But that was how it had always been. She’d made it through on her own for a very long time and she could do it again. Hell, she’d come out of a coma almost unscathed. 

She was about to head toward the diner when a voice stopped her mid-stride.

“Emma? Oh my god Emma, is that you?”

Her entire body stopped as if frozen. It couldn’t be…? She didn’t want to turn around but steps were coming toward her, almost running now, and the voice was still calling her name. 

The person moved to stand in front of her and she looked up into the face of a man she’d never wanted to lay eyes on again. “Neal?”


	10. My Past Lights Up My Future

Regina tapped her pen against the side of her stack of folders, staring at the clock at the edge of her desk. She’d been less than productive since Emma left and she was trying to figure out what exactly was leaving her unnerved. 

Emma had shown up with lunch – a friendly gesture, she had to admit – but something had felt forced and awkward right before she’d left. Shouldn’t she have said anything about Henry? She’d assumed that Emma would want to know things, insert herself into his life, now that she was awake. 

She dropped her pen and got up to stretch her legs. She moved over to the window when something on the couch, where they’d eaten lunch earlier, caught her eye. She stepped closer and squinted at the small key ring. She picked it up with and read the small inscription on the silver key tag: Bed & Breakfast Storybrooke.

Obviously Emma’s key. It seemed just like the blonde to forget it anywhere and everywhere, but luckily it was just her office this time. She closed her fist around the key chain and swiftly grabbed her blazer on her way out of the door. 

#-#-#

What she saw when she walked down Main Street was least to say surprising. She’d decided to leave the car and instead look for Emma on foot. It was a rather nice day after all, but even the brightest sunshine couldn’t make the scene a few feet away from her any less aggravating. Emma was yelling rather loudly, trying to yank her arm out of the grasp of a man Regina thought she’d managed to drive out of town for good. 

It only took her several long strides until she’d positioned herself between Emma and the man. She leveled him with her best glare and he took a few small steps back.

“What exactly is going on?”

“The mayor again. Why the hell are you always around when I’m trying to see Emma?”

Regina briefly glanced over her shoulder at Emma who seemed completely overwhelmed with the situation before turning back to Neal. “Perhaps my presence is necessary because your attention is clearly not welcome. Now, I would suggest you leave Mr. Cassidy before I decide to alert the sheriff.”

Neal glared at Regina and tried to sidestep her to get to Emma but Regina simply followed his movement and reached behind her to push Emma out of the man’s reach. 

“Em I just wanna talk to you. I’m sorry about the shit that went down okay? I came here when you were in that coma, I tried to see you but the mayor here sent me away. Tell her to fuck off and I’ll explain everything.”

Regina’s shoulders tensed and she readied herself for a confrontation when a small voice from behind her stopped her.

“I want you to leave.”

Neal grinned. “I knew you’d see…”

“No,” Emma interrupted, “I want you to leave Neal. There’s nothing here for you, so go.”

Neal’s face darkened and he scowled at Regina who couldn’t help the small victorious smirk playing around her mouth.

“This is all your fault.”

“I’m sure this is solely your doing Mr. Cassidy. I may not know what exactly transpired between you and Emma, but it is completely obvious that she doesn’t appreciate you showing up here in my town. And frankly neither do I.”

Regina dismissed him with a gesture of her hand and turned to around to face Emma. She lifted her hand to let the key dangle from her fingers. “Let’s talk privately for a moment,” she said quietly, inclining her head toward the B&B.

Emma nodded and began walking without a single glance in Neal’s direction. Regina silently followed, hoping that Neal had indeed understood that he’d long since worn out his welcome. She was glad that Emma obviously didn’t want anything to do with him, because that would’ve most certainly complicated things. 

Her eyes narrowed in thought. Why had he returned now, so shortly after Emma had woken out of the coma? Maybe he’d paid someone at the hospital to give him a call - anything was possible. 

Emma lead her into the B&B, up a flight of stairs and to a door that looked just like any other in the hallway. Regina handed her the key and Emma unlocked the door, letting Regina step inside first.

She’d never actually been in one of those rooms and after a quick look around, decided that they were quite comfortable. A little antiquated perhaps, but still inviting.

Emma dropped into a nearby chair and rested her head in her hands. “He’s been here before?”

Regina regarded Emma’s slumped form for several seconds before she walked over to the window to glance down at the street. Neal was gone.

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It didn’t seem quite as significant, considering…”

“So you sent him away?” Emma interrupted. 

Regina turned back and found the blonde looking at her with an unreadable expression.

“Yes.”

Emma released a quiet breath. “Thank you. He doesn’t know about Henry, does he?”

“No. He wasn’t even aware that you’d been pregnant when he first appeared in Storybrooke, so I had no reason to assume that he was the father. Therefore I didn’t feel the need to inform him of his existence.”

A small smile crossed over Emma’s features and she nodded. “I’m glad you didn’t.”

Regina glanced out of the window again before crossing over to the bed and sitting down on the edge. She folded her hands in her lap. “Is he?”

“What?”

“The father.”

“Oh, well, yeah, he is. But he left, so he isn’t really much of anything at all.”

An invisible weight that had been pressing down on her chest lifted and Regina took a surprised breath. It was reassuring to know that there wasn’t anyone else who would lay claim to Henry. She was starting to believe that she could figure this out together with Emma. There were possibilities for them to make it work. 

“I just… thank you for sticking up for me, you know, out there.”

Regina felt her lips stretch into a genuine smile. “You’re welcome.”

She had a feeling that not many people had defended Emma in her short life and it saddened her that a vibrant young woman like her had been through so many things without any support at all. As Emma sat there, plucking at the hem of her sweater, returning Regina’s smile shyly, she tried to imagine what an older version of the blonde would look like. Someone who’d been hardened by life, a force to be reckoned with. 

“So, I’ve been meaning to…” Emma began but a shrill noise from Regina’s pocket made them both jump. 

It was her cell phone. She reached into her pocket and scowled at the device. She ignored the call.

“I’m sorry, you were saying…?”

“I… uh… I changed my mind about dinner. I mean, if you’re still offering.”

Regina got up from the bed and smoothed her hands down her thighs, removing any non-existent wrinkles from her black slacks. “Of course. Would you prefer chocolate mousse or vanilla cream for dessert?”

Emma blinked. “Chocolate mousse…?”

“Very well, I’ll see you at seven.”

She walked toward the door and shot Emma a small smile before leaving. She had a little more paperwork to finish, a list groceries and a dinner to prepare.

#-#-#

Emma was on time. At exactly seven the doorbell rang and Regina shifted Henry from one hip to the other. He’d been fussy all evening, refusing to sleep, eating only very little. Something was bothering him and she just couldn’t figure out what it was. 

She hadn’t even had time to change. She was still stuck in her white blouse, now showing several splotches of chocolate mousse and baby food, and slacks. She raked a hand through her hair and walked quickly through the foyer and toward the door, yanking it open with a little bit of force. 

Just like the last time Emma had been in the exact same spot, she stared a little shocked and wide-eyed at the scene before her. “Is this bad time?”

Regina stepped aside and jerked her head in the direction of the foyer. “No it’s fine, come in.”

As soon as Emma had moved into the house and taken off her jacket and boots Regina held Henry out to her. He became quiet almost instantly and gazed at Emma with his big eyes. “Take him for a moment please, I need to check on the roast or there will be nothing but charcoal for dinner.”

Emma hesitated for a few seconds before she took Henry into her arms and cradled him against her side. Her eyes were glued to his face as he began playing with strands of her hair. Regina breathed a quiet sigh of relief that he was finally calming down. She turned on her heel and hurried into the kitchen to check on the roast she’d prepared. It smelled delicious and she doused it with sauce before stirring the vegetables. Almost done.

She straightened and turned when Emma’s voice came from the kitchen doorway. “You know what’s funny?” 

She still couldn’t take her eyes off of Henry and smiled at him when he giggled. 

“Enlighten me.”

“He actually looks nothing like Neal. And I swear, that look he just got is all you,” Emma said laughing. Henry was now scrutinizing her collar with utmost concentration.

Regina bit her lip to hide a smile. “Why don’t the two of you sit in the living room until dinner is ready, I’m sure Henry would love to show you his dinosaurs.”

“’Saurs!” Henry agreed, bouncing a little in Emma’s grasp. 

“Alrighty then, let’s have some fun. Which of the dinosaurs is your favorite hmm?” Emma asked. She shot Regina a grin before disappearing into the living room. 

Regina stepped over to the sink and began washing her hands, thoughtfully staring down at the bubbles between her fingers. This seemed so easy. Emma showing up, playing with Henry, them having dinner together. It was nice somehow. 

She dried her hands on a towel and took a breath, not realizing Emma had reentered the kitchen until she was pretty much beside her. 

“Hey, your phone kept going off.”

The voice startled her and she whirled around to face a sheepish looking Emma who was holding her cell phone at arm’s length.

“Sorry.”

“It’s quite alright.” She took the phone from Emma and frowned at the screen. Nine missed calls from an unknown number. Who could be trying to get hold of her at this time of night?

“Someone important?”

“I haven’t got a clue,” Regina answered. 

She wasn’t surprised when the phone began to vibrate right in her hand. She swiped across the screen with raised eyebrows, holding the phone to her ear. Emma gestured toward the living room with her thumb and Regina nodded, holding up her hand, fingers splayed. ‘Dinner almost ready’ she mouthed and Emma grinned. 

After Emma had left she sighed and focused on the voice babbling into her ear. “Make it short.”

Her entire face darkened while she listened. “She…when? Where is she now? Alright, yes, I’ll be there. Yes.”

She slapped her palm against the counter and cursed quietly. She turned the stove off and walked into the living room, the sight stopping her short for several seconds. Emma was sitting on the couch, Henry on her lap. He had one of his dinosaur figures in one hand, bumping it against the one Emma was holding. Both of them were laughing and Regina hesitated in the door until Emma noticed her. 

“Everything alright?”

Regina shook her head and sighed. “Something has come up that unfortunately cannot wait. I’m not sure how long it will take…,” she rubbed a hand across her forehead, “and I know I’m asking quite a bit from you, but could you watch Henry while I’m gone? It would take time to call Kathryn and she might be otherwise engaged. And he’s already eaten, you just have to put him to bed, read him a story perhaps.”

Emma got up from the couch and shook her head. “No it’s fine… I think. I mean we’ll manage.”

Henry grinned at them both and mumbled something before clutching the dinosaur to his chest with a squeal. 

“Alright, if anything happens just give me a call, or call Kathryn from my landline. I’m really sorry about this, I’ll try and make it quick. Help yourself with the roast and the chocolate mousse is in the fridge.”

Regina was getting more frazzled by the minute and while she was running around her house, gathering her phone, keys, shoes and purse, Emma was waiting by the door with Henry, holding her jacket for her to take. 

Despite the tiny sliver of uncertainty at leaving Henry with Emma she trusted her enough to ignore the feeling.

“Thank you,” Regina said, breathing another sigh. She took the jacket from Emma and smiled at Henry. Emma was holding him against her side and she leaned in to press a kiss to the little boy’s forehead. “Sleep well my dear.”

Henry scrunched his face and wiped at his nose and cheeks. Regina smiled and turned her eyes to Emma. “You are welcome to use the guestroom should I not be back in time. Again, I will try and make this short and I am sorry for ruining dinner.”

“Oh please you didn’t ruin anything. We’ll be fine. Henry’s already half asleep and there’s some really amazing food waiting in the kitchen, so I’m good. You go ahead and do your mayor business stuff.”

“Alright.”

They parted with a smile and Regina headed out of the house, toward her car, prepared to fix this issue as quickly as possible.


	11. At Last

Regina pinched the bridge of her nose between index finger and thumb. “So what you’re saying is that she stopped taking her medicine several days ago, broke into Gold’s shop tonight and is now missing?”

Graham scratched the back of his head and nodded. “Yeah that about sums it up. Gold called me about an hour ago, saying that someone broke into his shop.”

“And what makes you think Melanie is responsible?”

“A witness saw a blonde woman running from the shop around the same time as the break-in. So I went through a list of possible suspects and, well, Miss Méchant fit the description. I went to her apartment but no one opened, so I called Dr. Hopper and he told me that Miss Méchant hadn’t shown up for their weekly appointment. He also said that she hadn’t renewed her prescription.”

“Alright fine, I suppose I understand why you would suspect her, but Melanie has never done anything to indicate that she would break into a shop and steal anything. Speaking of, what exactly was stolen?”

Graham shifted around a little bit and raised his shoulders. “Gold isn’t sure yet.”

Regina rolled her eyes and grabbed her purse. “Of course. So now you called me, after hours mind you, to tell me all that? Or is there something else you expect me to do?”

“Well I thought you might have an idea where she could be.”

“I have to disappoint, I do not. Now, if you would excuse me, I have a dinner to get back to.”

“Uh…alright, yeah, call me if you can think of anything else, or in case she contacts you.”

“Goodnight Sheriff,” Regina replied and walked out of the station without looking back. She felt a headache beginning take up space inside her skull and groaned quietly at the situation.

Melanie was one of her oldest friends, and they’d known each other for almost as long as she could remember. But not too long ago Melanie had started escaping into a world that only existed in her imagination. A land filled with magic and fairytale characters. It had taken a stay at the hospital and extensive therapy with Dr. Hopper to make her realize that she was chasing delusions and that none of those stories she was remembering were real. Regina had thought that Mel had gotten better but now she silently berated herself for not checking on her friend more often. Ever since Henry had appeared in her life she’d spent less and less time with Mel. 

She would take care of this in the morning, when she could actually focus on the issue without wanting to go back home more than anything else. She walked back to her car, shaking her head at Graham’s incapability. He could’ve just as easily told her all of this on the phone without dragging her out of her house in the dead of night. Maybe he’d hoped they’d throw themselves into a headless chase through Storybrooke. As if she cared whether or not someone broke into Gold’s shop. 

She was just about to reach into her purse for her car key when someone grabbed her arm and yanked her away from the street. She whirled around, ready to pummel whoever was attacking her with her purse when she realized that Melanie was the one pulling on her arm.

“Melanie what…?”

“Shh…shh… not so loud. C’mon Regina, I need to show you something, come on.”

She let the other woman pull her along through one of the side streets and toward the main square. “Melanie what’s going on? What are you doing?”

“Here look, look,” the other woman replied, pointing toward the clock tower. 

Regina squinted at the old clock-face, watching the hand move. “What am I seeing here Mel?”

“It’s moving again, time is back. After she showed up here time arrived, but then it stopped again until she woke up. That’s when I realized that she is the key. And now I have the potion.”

Regina took a breath and turned Melanie. “Alright now, listen to me okay? I know you’ve not been taking your medication, and you haven’t met with Dr. Hopper for your weekly session –“

“Oh please, why would I pour my heart out to a bug. I’m finally seeing clearly and now the time has finally come to return to our land.”

Melanie stepped forward and grasped Regina’s forearms with her hands. “We can finally be who we really are again.”

“Melanie please –“

“No, no you don’t understand. But you will. My name is not Melanie, it’s Maleficent and you my dear friend, the Evil Queen, will soon come to see it my way.”

Before Regina could even utter another word, Melanie spun around on her heel and hurried across the street to enter an old building that had been empty for several years. She’d meant to have it torn down a while ago, but had never gotten around to have all the forms approved. She didn’t know why the front door was unlocked but judging by the way Melanie stepped inside without hesitation she’d been in there before.

Regina followed with a quiet curse on her lips. She fished her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed Graham’s number. She followed after Mel and entered the old house, scrunching up her nose at the stench of rotten wood. The main hall was empty but she could see a figure disappearing up the stairs to the upper level of the house.

“Madame Mayor?” Graham asked after taking her call.

“I’ve found her, we’re in the old ramshackle building on main square, across from the clock tower. I’ll try to calm her down, hurry up sheriff.”

She ended the call and hurried up the stairs, taking two steps at a time. The upper level of the house consisted of a hallway with several doors, some of them only hanging on by a single hinge. The floor beneath her feet squeaked with each step and she was starting to worry that the house could come down around them any minute. 

There was a sound to her right and she turned to follow it down the hallway. The door at the end was halfway open, a thin line of light filtering through the dust. 

“This is just ridiculous,” she mumbled.

#-#-#

Emma smiled down at Henry. He was making cute little sleeping noises and she couldn’t help but melt at the sight. He’d been a little restless after Regina had left but she'd carried him through the house for a while and read him a story until he’d fallen asleep. 

She’d eaten dinner alone, sitting in Regina’s kitchen with a piece of ridiculously delicious roast, contemplating to leave the dessert. But the chocolate mousse had just looked too good to pass up. 

So with her belly full and nothing to do she’d ventured back into Henry’s room and she'd been watching him sleep for about thirty minutes. She still couldn’t quite believe that this perfect little person was a part of her. And even though it seemed almost silly to think so, she was still convinced that he already had learned some of Regina’s mannerisms. 

She smirked at the thought of Regina tearing Neal apart, saving her from a piece of her past she didn’t want to encounter ever again. It felt a lot like someone was finally on her side. 

“Maybe I can fix this, maybe this is the chance I was never meant to have,” she whispered and leaned down toward Henry. She placed a gentle kiss against his forehead and staggered back several steps at the wave of light and air. 

“What the…?”

#-#-#

“Melanie, come on this is getting quite out of hand, I need you to come outside with me and then we’ll figure out how to help you.”

“But I don’t need any help, you do.”

Regina pushed the old door open with her fingertips, slowly stepping into the room. Melanie was standing in the center, all kinds of trash gathered around her in the small room. Chairs, tables, puppets and even a spinning wheel were scattered all over the place. 

Melanie was holding a flask with a clear liquid in both hands. Regina squinted at the little bottle, not sure whether she saw light coming from it or not. 

“I really don’t want you to get hurt, the Sheriff will be here any minute and I think it would be best for all of us to –“ She was interrupted when a sudden wave of wind knocked her over. She staggered to the side and tried to hold onto something to steady herself. The entire house shook and creaked. 

“What just…?” She blinked her eyes, several images assaulting her at once. Some of them were blurry and irrational, others reminded her of little Henry and Emma waiting at her house for her to come home. 

She tried to focus but the only thing she could see was Melanie grinning at her.

“It’s finally here. It’s finally happened old friend.”

Melanie stepped closer and reached out to rest a hand on her shoulder. “I know you’re going to be very mad at me later, but believe me it’s for the best.”

“Wha…?”

Melanie opened the flask with a flick of her thumb and very carefully tilted it toward the spinning wheel. A single droplet of shimmering liquid made its way out of the small bottle and dripped onto the rusty needle. 

Regina knew that she should be doing something to stop this, anything really, but she could only watch in morbid fascination as her old friend grabbed her wrist and jammed her index finger onto the tip of the needle. A drop of blood burst from the broken skin, making its way down her palm.

“Male…ficent…?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is, as you may have already guessed, not the end. it's only the first installment of a multi-part series. 
> 
> the second part is now up and please also check out the wonderful illustrations PinkRabbitPro has created for the next installment. find them here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/5839243  
> please leave kudos, comments, and all the love because they are amazing.


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